Sly Cooper: Terror beyond the Grave
by FelidaeGod
Summary: Sly and his gang are back to their old tactics for making big bucks before the realize that Clockwork could very much return from his destruction. They need help from new allies to make sure that doesn't happen. Read and Review Please!
1. Chapter 1: Sly to the Bone

**FelidaeGod: This Fanfiction is going to be written by both Slylady345 and I. Chapter 1 was written brilliantly by her, and I'm hoping that you will all enjoy, read and review each of our chapters. We do not own Sly Cooper or any of the merchandise/franchise. This piece of literature is merely for entertainment purposes, not profit. Enjoy reading! **

**Chapter 1: Sly to the Bone**

The whole concept of thievery was that somebody off the streets stole something, and got away with it; or the not so lucky ones didn't. Cops and robbers, a common and beloved game was developed after the first item from a small town drug store was stolen. Soon many people amongst society began this unlawful profession, and it caused an uproar from the people who found it utterly inhuman.

They knowing that this thievery wouldn't stop built a bases of what we now call Interpol. Training people to control the criminals all around the world, and dubbing those said people, officers, and upholders of the law. Though as it was soon seen, all thievery couldn't be wiped out. So taking it in a stride, they accepted that not all criminals would be captured and sentenced to a long life in prison.

However, one vital thief escaped their sights in the very place were riches are most commonly hidden, Cairo Egypt. The thief in question was a servant of the pharaoh, and went by the name of, 'scum' though his real name being, 'Slytankhamen Cooper, the second'. Stolen from his home at birth, he was raised to work for the greedy, savage pharaoh. Not agreeing with the harsh and violent rule, he rebelled.

On a clear and starry night, the servant snuck into the very room the great king slept stealing the very crown he wore everyday. It didn't take long for the guards to catch wind of the thief, but every time they made a grab, he disappeared into thin air. Most guards kept small journals on their person, and they said this exactly, "The thief was a servant of the pharaoh as we could recognize, and was armed."

Indeed the thief was armed with a bent crowbar in the shape of a question mark, the guards weren't to intimidated so much as by that, but more so his combat technique, "I saw the raccoon with my very eyes grab the golden crown, and tried to stop him. Though as soon as I approached the ruffian went clear, there was no trace of him! I rubbed my eyes, and before I could yell to my fellow men, he cracked the cane over my skull."

The heist was very interesting, and raised a lot of attention. Most believed the guards had lied about the thieves ability to disappear into thin air, one of these people being, Arch Duke the Third. A rich noble man in the town of Marksmith, he boasted that no thief could get through his security, and welcomed the invisible raccoon thief to try and steal his most prized possession, his daughter.

To his utter disbelief, the duke awoke to find his beloved daughter had been taken in the night. After the incident, the thief offered to let the beauty go; she refused to leave his side, and confessed her love for him. The pair of thieves soon had a child, which began the unfathomable Cooper Clan itself. Slytankhamen realized that there would be more Coopers to come, and decided to build a vault.

Traveling to a distant, and abandoned island he started to build a vault to store the Cooper fortune in. However, he was killed at a young age of twenty-four, along with his wife, by a rival who'd seen his work. The villain was non-other than, Clockwerk. He had, had the spotlight for centuries before the raccoon had made an appearance. His abilities were not of the norm, and were feared by most of the world.

Deciding the child of the now murdered parents, was meek, he let the child go. The child went on to find a large journal written in by his father, and began to read. Reading it proved to be a very worthwhile thing, the journal held all his fathers' techniques, and a constellation of all his adventures as a master thief in the Cooper Clan. The child learned from the book and began to develop his own fighting styles.

Soon generations went by. The Cooper members piling their knowledge into the book; as well as traveling to the deserted island to add to the vault; and finish building it. The journal was soon a novel of the Cooper Clan, and was named, The Thevious Raccoonus by Rioichi Cooper, the creator of the Ninja Spire Jump. Many admirers of the Cooper Clan, as well as enemies tried to copy the techniques.

No matter how hard they tried however, only two techniques could be done by the norm. The rope walk being one, and two being the ability to jump off of skyscrapers without breaking a single bone in their bodies. They tried others but soon admitted that the Coopers were in fact, the only capable clan to ever master these death defying fighting styles. The Cooper Clan was named the number one Clan.

As the Clan grew in history wise, their heists became impeccable to crack. They were masters that not even the most skilled officers could catch. Each Cooper added to the book for centuries to come, worked on the vault, and continued the line on in pride. Though, even if they were the best, they sometimes had to join together in other leagues to conquer a problem, and that's exactly what the latest of the Cooper Line would be doing.

"Sly!" A loud and nasally voice screamed into the thief's ears, more so a device in the raccoon's ear. The thief who had been grabbing, "Danite" a famous painting from Italy, jumped, thereby dropping the ancient painting with a resounding crack on the floor. His sweaty palms clenched tightly and the thief re-gripped the painting whilst calming himself before even thinking about replying to his partner.

"Damn it, Bentley!" The raccoon replied in a harsh whisper into the device clipped to the collar of his shirt, "You about made me destroy the most expensive painting in Italy!" While saying this he checked the painting over for any cracks, or injury to the skillfully drawn painting. The only thing he found was a small crack in the frame of the left side of it, though it was small it made the thief growl in frustration.

"What's the matter with you, sitting duck?" The turtle retorted using the code name for Interpol avoidance purposes, "You're usually the one telling me to calm down, and your sweating so much is coming through your sweater!" After which saying this, the nasally and nerdy voice began to evolve into laughter. The noise irritated the second speaker and he rolled his eyes being annoyed fully to the point of no return.

"Listen Bentley, Carmelita's stepped up her game ten fold, and I'm just trying to be cautious." The thief excused his nervousness. While still speaking to the genius turtle through the communicator, the raccoon made his way steadily down one of the winding marble hallways of the museum. Cases littered here and there were no help to him, and he had to go even slower not to trip alarms on them.

"What ever happened to living on the edge? Or chillax pal, I got this?" The mocking tone ringing through the thief's ears with a sort of amusement, "You seem so different, sitting duck. Have all those shock pistol blasts made you aware that you shouldn't flirt with an Inspector with a gun? Or is for the fact that you're done with your tail twitching?" More laughter was issued after the continuous jokes.

"Maybe it's both Bentley." The master thief replied rolling his eyes again, passing a skull exhibit, "She obviously will never love me, so flirting with her is pointless. As for my tail, yes, I would like it to stop twitching because it really isn't too attractive to the ladies. The shock pistol blasts haven't made me scared by the way, it's the girl holding the thing that shoots them, that worries me more so."

"I told you, sitting duck." The cracked voice replied, "A thief can't be in love with a cop! You should look in the thief category like I did for Penelope." When the genius said this, his voice had a hint of, 'I have a girlfriend and you don't, ha!' in it. The thief instead of taking offence began to laugh, though quietly as possible due to the voice sensors set up for stupid thieves who talked to themselves while stealing.

"Oh yeah, that was a catch." The thief joked, "They say the first one is always the best." Now the thief knew that was a really harsh joke, but the turtle knew he was joking, plus the little brainiac needed to know that the thief was still the most powerful chick magnet. Lugging the painting was starting to get heavy as he turned down the second to the last hallway, but he just kept holding it knowing it would pay off in the end.

"Hey!" His companion yelled in his ear once again, the raccoon jumped again, and started cursing under his breath, "She's not my first girlfriend, also, I never seen you with another girl besides your dysfunctional relationship with, Inspector Fox." He had him there, nobody had ever sparked with the thief more than Carmelita Fox, however, she didn't share his feelings in romance, so they just played cops and robbers, and left it at that.

"Okay, okay." Sly sighed again rolling his eyes in a annoyed manner, "Girls have been attracted to me, is what I meant, though I did not usually share their feelings, because...of Carmelita." Turning down the last hallway the thief let out another sigh, ever since Kaine Island and the whole amnesia fiasco, the fox hadn't spoken a word except 'freeze' or Spanish cursing. He didn't blame her one bit, but he'd become lonely without her.

The two had formed such a great relationship, and now all that was in the past. Why did Clockwerk have to ruin everything? That's the reason he'd had to leave, Clockwerk. Even from the grave that owl knew how to make somebody's life a living hell, and considering he was a Cooper, he got it ten times worse. He'd quit working as Carmelita's partner, and joined back up with the still together Cooper Gang.

Apparently the blueprints for the parts of Clockwerk were stolen again by KLAW Gang wanna-bees. Though they split up into different places, as organized crime members usually did, they kept in close contact, and had tighter fortresses than Sly had ever faced in his whole career of being a Cooper. Ironically enough their leader was the Father of Arpeggio, and the genius definitely ran in the family.

The guy was resourceful, clever, and could spell out disaster for the world because of his own wishes to dominate the world.  
From what Bentley had found out, they were planning on building the parts in a couple months of time. In all honesty, the Sly Cooper was stressed to the limit. He couldn't imagine all the heists that would have to go into this, nor could he imagine being chased down by a silent Inspector Fox for one more day.

'The inspector besides being silent was vicious now' Thought Cooper as he struggled to hold the painting any longer, 'I wish we didn't have low funds, and I wasn't here stealing this painting…who knows what she could do!'

"Look, Sly," The turtle began, interrupting the raccoon's thoughts, "Carmelita isn't good enough for you, you'll find somebody a heck of a lot better than the trigger fingered fox. Tell you what pal, tomorrow night, you, me, and Murray will go out." This again caused a small quiet laughter to erupt from the master thief's lips, and make him stop holding his stomach in pain from the task of holding in most of the laughter.

"Bentley, I know you think I'm attractive in all, but why get Murray involved? You and me can be alone all by ourselves!" The raccoon's sarcasm ever present, and his charming smile showing under his lips, "Oh, and you didn't use the code name." He could picture his nerdy friend rolling his eyes at the sarcastic banter, and could in fact hear the genius give a long sigh on the communicator.

"Real funny, sitting duck, hilarious." The master hacker replied in a bored tone, "Back on subject, are you almost out of the museum Mr. cautious?" The raccoon could hear the typing of computer keys as his friend began checking for any officers, or alarms once again. Propping the painting on one knee, the raccoon opened the front door. Not surprisingly the alarm began to blare in a loud, and obnoxious rant.

"Yeah," The master thief responded, "Get the van over here, pronto." To his response he got some muttered cursing from the genius, and a, 'hit it Murray!' as well as some more cursing, plus typing. Switching of the communicator he stood simply in front of the large building giving a sigh, looking like a child waiting to be picked up from school. As he stood he could still hear the alarms blaring.

Though to his dismay, he heard two more alarms join the first. The two new ones hummed in harmony whilst the other didn't, and the raccoon could feel his heart becoming heavier. He knew exactly was responsible for the two new alarms, and couldn't stop himself from shaking. Giving a loud curse he began to run with the painting, no longer in the presence of cases to dodge, he found himself free to be careless as possible.

"Sly! The cops are arriving!" Bentley yelled out breaking the quietness, besides the alarms in the background, "Murray and I are approaching your position. Get ready to jump in, and quick! They're hot on your tail!" The master thief felt a sarcastic comment coming on, but decided against saying anything but a small, 'okay', and silence. He didn't like talking during chases anymore, and kept silent even as he saw the cops on the rooftops.

"Freeze, Cooper!" A Spanish accented voice broke the steady beat of his running, and also the person owning said voice, jumped in front of him. Her pistol was in front of her lit with blue from being charged up, and she stood in a sort of 'L' stance balancing her weight seventy-thirty, "Put the painting down, Cooper, and put your hands above your head!" The demand wasn't followed as the raccoon simply stood there.

"You better listen Cooper, there's no way out." Another female voice came from behind, showing that she was partial Indian. Carmella Rodriguez was behind him with a gun shoved into his back with a roughness, "Put your hands up, or I'm going to make sure that you never have a chance to do such an action again!" Threatening a Cooper got you nowhere, they were as stubborn as a bull, maybe even more so.

Even with two guns pointed at him the raccoon was calm, "I'm sorry, but I can't do that." The thief said chilling the air with vibrations with his suave voice, "I've got a very expensive painting that needs to be held." Sarcasm usually was a bad choice for somebody in his position to be using, but with his experience he'd earned the right to use it willy-nilly as much as he wanted too; and did in fact use it for such encounters.

"I'm giving you to the count of three, if you do not comply, Officer Rodriguez, will shoot you." The fox replied steadying herself more calmly in her stance. The thief took heed to her warning, but didn't raise his hands even as her lips parted to begin counting. He'd been in a similar encounter, minus the extra cop behind him, and she'd given him ten seconds; after which he'd kissed her, and left her cuffed to a metal railing.

"1."

"Wow she was true to her word, now wasn't she, oh and she's actually talking to me for once." The thief thought with his own sarcastic tone.

"2."

"Well, this is were things get interesting, I've had a bad streak lately, and I'm not continuing it." Determined the raccoon prepared himself in his own stance, a fifty-fifty stance, his fists clenched at his sides.

"...3." The fox's voice dropped as her pistol exploded into rapid fire at the thief in front of her.

Cooper dodged easily, and managed to even dodge the shot to his back. Though Carmelita and Carmella cornered him on the right side of the building, there being no buildings, lines, or poles for him to use to his advantage. The raccoon thief didn't surrender but simply let his arms come out to the sides of himself, and simply allowing himself to fall backwards. The Interpol officers eyes widened as they saw him fall down into the dark alley, only to be caught by non-other than, Murray.

The purple hippo then proceeded to sprint to the van parked a couple feet away, place his friend in, and jump in the drivers seat before the officers could even blink. Scrambling after the van by rooftop, they soon lost sight of the van; accept a darkened outlined figure of it in the distance. The two cops growled in frustration, and Carmelita's head tilted backwards and she yelled out her defeated call, "I'll get you, Cooper!"

"Where's the painting?" Murray asked from the driver's seat, suddenly aware that his friend had not brought the painting with him. The raccoon smirked and pulled the painting out of his bag. It looked to be in mint condition and Bentley began to hurriedly check it over. "Wow…" The hippo snorted, "That things uglier in person."

"It may be ugly, but it's worth a boat load of cash!" Bentley laughed, "And it's just enough money for me to get all the things for our next venture." The trio high-fived before settling down in their seats. Murray and Bentley kept exchanging glances at one another afterwards. The hippo motioned with his head for the amphibian to talk to Cooper about what the two had been hiding.

Bentley gulped and nodded, "Uh Sly…now that our…um…money is set, I was actually wanting to talk about something with you…" In response the raccoon shook his head up and down signaling the twenty-two-year-old turtle to continue. "Well you see, Sly, um…I…was thinking maybe…we could use more help…with this…"

The raccoon raised his eyebrows, "Like whom?"

"I actually had a candidate…" The turtle mumbled, "I know you don't really 'like' him, but…"

"Who is he?" The thief asked cocking his head wondering who it possibly be.

"Well we got a large group already as you know, but I think this guy could really help." The turtle paused, "I know you don't like him…but he could really help-"

"Bentley get on with it!" Cooper shouted.

"A Felidae Gang member…"


	2. Chapter 2: William Von Felidae

**Author's Note: This chapter is done by me, FelidaeGod. Again, I do not claim to own any of the Sly Cooper Franchise or Merchandise. This is only done for creative and non profit purposes. **

**Chapter 2: William Von Felidae**

The Interpo office of France was silent as most of the officers had their heads buried in paper work. Recently, there had been a series of robberies performed on banks, corporate vaults and even large estates. Many of the Interpo investigators and officers had attempted to catch the felon, but it was difficult to catch what they could never see. After looking over many criminal files and old newspapers a team of investigators found out who was committing these robberies.

All of the robberies had two things in common. One, all the areas that were robbed were rolling in cash. The criminal did not steal from those of mediocre or low income. Another common characteristic with the robberies was that there was absolutely no evidence left behind. No video footage, DNA evidence or anything of that variety.

It was first believed that the infamous Sly Cooper had returned to France, but since the signs did not point to him he was ruled out completely. Whoever this new thief was, they were not an amateur at the art. They were obviously trained, or they obviously had a distinct way of doing things. There was another family within history, that had their reputation for thievery noted in many ancient scriptures up to the modern Newspapers. The Felidae Family.

The Felidae family were all, as their name suggested, cats. They had come to exist around the same time the Cooper family had in Egypt. The Felidae built alliances with many of the other thieves across the land, but never the Coopers. The Coopers had always disliked the ways the Felidae had done things. The Felidae only stole to give away to those of less fortune and kept only what they needed to live. The Coopers had another use for the valuables they stole, and thus the Felidae looked down upon them. Ever since Egypt, throughout history their Feud had heated and calm moments. There wasn't any sort of great war between them, though the tensions were so high at times it seemed to be inevitable that there would be a battle between the families.

It was thanks to Clockwork and his antics that the Felidae family were completely wiped out. It was expected that the Coopers would have been taken care of as well, but of course Sly had survived the onslaught and went on to destroy Clockwork. It was for this reason that many of the investigators were a bit sceptical of the idea that a member of the Felidae thief family could've committed the robberies. They were thought to be all extinct.

Throughout history, the authorities have never been able to catch a member of the Felidae family. It was for this reason, the investigators decided to turn to a bounty hunter in order to catch whoever was committing these high level robberies.

The Interpo office workers looked up from their desks as they heard the click of high heels against the flooring of the hallway. Soon a tall, fit looking women was standing at the door way. Her black high heel boots dug into the wood of the hallway, her arms crossed over her chest. Her black trench coat was almost touching the ground, but didn't quite because of the high heels she was wearing. She wore skin tight black pants, complete with a belt that contained a number of pockets. Under the trench coat she wore a white under shirt with her bust concealed by the trench coat.

Her name was Rosalia De Lupe. She is a 24 year old, black furred and blue eyed husky. Her hair is black and fashioned in a way so that it was neck length. She has black bangs that hung just above her eyes. She began to make her way into the room, and ignored the attention that some of the male workers were giving her.

Rosalia is a bounty hunter, and when Interpo needed someone taken care of she was the one they called upon. It was a well known fact that she and Carmelita DESPISED one another. Carmelita saw Rosalia as nothing more than a bottom feeder that made money getting criminals, even if it meant doing illegal things to do it. Rosalia simply hated Carmelita because she was Carmelita. It wasn't a very complicated hatred.

She was glad the Carmelita was off somewhere chasing her ex-lover-criminal. It was a lot quieter without Carmelita running her lungs off at everyone. Rosalia entered the room of the Inspector General without so much as a knock and sat down in front of him.

The Inspector General was an old Fox himself. He went by the name of Johannes Lugen. His fur had dulled from a bright red to an extremely dull orange. He had grown a large white moustache and was balding at the centre of his scalp but still had well cut white hair around the circumference of his head. He wore a full Interpo uniform, with the addition of a blue trench coat to show off his status.

"Rosalia. Pleasure to see you again" Johannes murmured with his heavy German accent. He let out a short cough, gurgling some phlegm in his throat. Rosalia gave him a disgusted look as he gurgled the phlegm.

"The feeling is mutual Monsieur Inspector." Rosalia said with her heavy French accent, her tone being completely calm and collected.

"We called you again because we need your help with another troubling case. We were planning on giving the case to Carmelita but it seems she is preoccupied with the assignment we gave her years ago." Johannes murmured with a snort.

"She chases that ring tail out of passion for him not passion for the job Monsieur. Give me a week and I will bring him to you as well." Rosalia said as she moved her bangs gracefully from her face.

"That will not be necessary. What I need you to do is capture a member of the Felidae family." Johannes murmured. It was at this point the atmosphere got tense. Rosalia stood and chuckled for a moment as she rubbed her eyes.

"Am I a joke to you Monsieur? Do you think that just because I am a lady you can just call me here for such silly jokes?" Rosalia said in an outraged tone. She was tired of men and their antics. They would do anything to catch a glimpse of her these days.

"I am being completely serious! A series of thefts have been reported from high income buildings. No DNA was left, no proof of entry or exit, no video footage or –"

"Oh so you are not pulling my chain, just giving me a case with no leads? I am a bounty hunter Monsieur not a God. What do you want me to do? Magically find this Felidae and transport him to you?"

"The bounty for this one is high. The people the Felidae robbed are willing to pay high rewards for his capture. I thought you'd want to be informed at least, and offered the job." Johannes said with a shrug of his shoulders. Rosalia thought about it for a moment and crossed her arms over her chest.

"How much is the reward Monsieur?" Rosalia asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Five hundred thousand Euros. That is the combined reward." Johannes explained. Rosalia smiled and nodded her head. That offer was too great to pass up! All she'd have to do is catch this Felidae and she was set for life!

"Where do you think he will be striking next?" Rosalia asked, wondering if they would give her ANY sort of information what so ever. She highly doubted the Interpo had anything to offer her.

"This is all we have. Make use of it." Johannes said as he placed a newspaper on the desk, with a head line that read 'Treasures of the Past!'.

/

The night moon shone down on a lone figure that sat near a giant old silver bell of a huge church spire. The figure was wearing a white cloak, black parachute pants and a purple t-shirt under the white cloak. The cloak also had a hood attached to it, which the creature had over his head. Within the shadows the hood had created were two glowing lenses. _"Do you see the target Will?"_

"Yep the museum is in sight Greg. Method of entry?"

"_There is a ventilation system that can easily be opened. Press the top right button on your wrist tool." _

The figure lifted his right arm to reveal his fur was a sleek black against the moon light. Around his wrist was a device that looked quite technologically advanced. It was about the length of his forearm to just slightly below his elbow. He pressed the button at the top right and a screw driver popped out. "Oh. Nice addition. When did you add this in?"

"_When you were sleeping. It's a universal screw driver. To switch the tip you got to turn the flashing knob."_

Sure enough there was a flashing knob higher up on the device. "Making my way down there now Greg."

"_Good luck Will. Be careful."_

William Von Felidae. The last of his great thief family. As a child he grew up with foster parents, not ever really knowing what became of his parents. He knew for sure his mother had died giving birth to him, but his father was never truly pronounced dead. He spent most of his life like any ordinary child would, but on his 15th birthday a package arrived for him from an unknown location. It was the great Felidae wrist device and a small booklet of the basics of Felidae thieving.

Will was never a scholar, and the booklet suggested having a keen mind when preparing thieving expeditions. It was that how he met Gregory Noctora.

Gregory was a bat, and the stereotypical 'nerd' in high school. It was actually there that Will had saved him, befriended him and enlisted him as the 'brains' of this branch of the Felidae group. Ever since 18, the two went on to make a living through stealing and giving what they didn't possibly need to those that did actually need it.

William was now twenty five and doing a series of robberies in France. He heard security was tough at many of the great wealthy buildings in France, but so far he met little to no problems. He was not going to let his guard down though.

William was making his way down the bell tower, having the usage of his feline claws to grapple onto the concrete of the tower for safety. He swiftly swung on a clothes line and climbed his way to a smaller building that over looked the Museum that held treasures from countries like Greece, and the rest of the ancient world. There was plenty of riches to be had, but William only planned on taking a jewel encrusted golden shield used by a Spartan King.

William adjusted the night vision goggles he was wearing, as he took off his hood to reveal his long brown hair. A cool wind blew his sweat stained hair. "There's a lot of security. Tons ." William looked to the building and took note of the few ventilation outlets. There was one near a small ledge. "How the hell am I going to get over there?" William murmured in frustration.

"_Aim the device at where you want to go, and press the middle bottom button. Your father made that addition to the device." _

William aimed the wrist device towards the ledge and pressed the button as instructed. A small metal hook shut out from the device with intense speed, digging into the stone of the building. He grinned as he tugged on the wire to make sure it was secure. He jumped up and pressed the middle button again and as he suspected the device pulled him to his destination with once again, intense speed. Once he reached the opposite ledge, he gripped onto the concrete with his left claw.

He retracted the hook back into the device once more and slowly slid sideways towards the ventilation outlet. He observed what kind of screws they were, and selected the appropriate tip for the job by twisting the knob on the device.

It only took the Felidae a few minutes to unscrew the vent outlet, get into the vent and close it up again to avoid suspicion from the guards. He had padded shoes on so it made no noise as he sort of crab walked to the destination area, and used the screw driver once again to open up another vent cover.

He finally managed to get out of the ventilation system, and landed within the display area of the rare golden shield. William looked around the dark and quiet room, noticing that there was no security activated what so ever. He frowned slightly, standing up straight. This was not normal at all.

The night vision goggles flared as the lights were turned on and he felt something being pushed against his back. "I don't have it set to stun Felidae. Don't move." A French accent cooed behind him, sounding amused.

"Oh my. First time I've ever been actually held at gun point by an officer. Congratulations."

"Hold your tongue. I am not an officer. Just someone that would love to stop breaking her nails at work. Now please just turn around, and put every weapon you have on the floor."

"But of course Madam." William stated as he slowly removed his eye wear from his head, revealing his natural amber eyes. He turned slowly, meeting her gaze.

"Oh. Hey Rose." William said with a smile. The female's eyes widened for a moment and she stepped back.

"William? You are the Felidae?" Rosalia growled, holding her blaster pistol towards his chest.

"Well you are a bounty hunter. Not exactly a secure job, now is it? So what have you been up to since graduation besides hunting down criminals? Didn't think you were the type to get down and dirty." William murmured.

"Shut your mouth! I will have my reward one way. Or another." Rosalia said as she pulled the trigger on the blaster.

William easily dodged the blaster fire and quickly pulled out a small metal device from his pocket. He threw it at Rosalia and it sent a shock throughout her body, disabling her for a moment. At that moment the alarm of the museum was sounded and William cursed under his breath. The shock must've activated it!

"Sorry to cut our reunion short. I'm sure I'll see you again." William murmured as Rosalia slowly stood once more, looking around for her weapon. In the mean time, William quickly used the grappling hook function of his wrist device, and made his way up towards the vent once more.

As he was making his way back towards his hideout, which was set up near the out skirts of Paris, he noticed many squad police cars making their way towards the Museum. It was very nice to see Rosalia, as he had not seen her since their high school days. Of course, back then she wasn't nearly so attractive or threatening.

"_Where are you Will? We just got a message!" _

"Making my way back over there. Who's the message from?" William asked as he arrived at the small apartment's balcony, panting out of tiredness. He slowly opened his balcony door and entered his messy living room. Sitting at the computer was Gregory of course, with hundreds of empty cans of energy drinks discarded around it.

"The Coopers Will. They made contact." Greg murmured as he drink more of another energy drink.


	3. Chapter 3: Two Birds with One Stone

Chapter 3: Two Birds, One Blast

"Bentley…I will not be around those…those…cats." Cooper sneered, "They're a bunch of cocky cats." Murray sat on the couch reading a book about how to build trucks; Bentley sat at his computer typing up a message; Sly stood behind him complaining.

"Oh and you're not?" Bentley sniggered, "If I didn't know any better I'd think you were jealous, or some petty nonsense." To the Cooper started to stutter and put his hands up in defence.

"Me?" The raccoon snorted, "Jealous of those guys? No. The only reason I have a grudge is because well…they deserve it!"

"Do you even remember what the feud was about?" The turtle asked rolling his eyes, "I mean, why not make amends? It's been over two-hundred years, and you'd be the bigger man."

"I'm not apologizing to them, plus how in the heck did one survive?" The raccoon sighed giving up on convincing the brainiac to listen, "I thought they were all wiped out by Clockwerk to be honest."

"Will, age twenty four." The turtle read of the screen, "Never knew his parents to well, and lived in foster care."

"He didn't know his parents?" The ringtail asked, his nickname also standing for his tail that was swishing and twitching somewhat from years of shock-pistol blast.

"I just sent a message asking if he could meet us." The turtle added suddenly pressing enter, "Want to read it? I'm going in the kitchen, you go ahead." The wheelchair bound reptile rolled towards his destination whilst his partner sat down in interest.

To Will F.

We've found evidence that concludes that a group led by Arpeggio's father (A genius madman), have stolen the blueprints to the Clockwerk parts, and this does mean they can rebuild the monster. I'm Sylvester Cooper's technical man, I know you don't find the Coopers appealing, but if we join together, we might just have a shot.

Meet at the Eiffel Tower for more information at 9:00pm, Sly Cooper will be waiting in disguise to talk to you more.

From, Bentley Turtle

The raccoon's eyes flared, "I have to talk to that mangy cat! BENTLEY!"

To his surprise he heard a calm, "What, Sly?" It seemed agitated and along with it came Bentley rolling back into the living room with a root beer. Seating himself in position in front of the computer he began to type on a document word.

"I didn't agree to meet him." Cooper mumbled, "9:00pm huh?"

"Yes, it's eight, so you better get going." The reptile replied typing more furiously, "Will replied."

"What did he say?" The raccoon asked curiously.

"He just said he'd meet you there and that he'd be five minutes late." Bentley pushed up his glasses before popping his back, "Your disguise is on your bed."

Nodding the thief obediently walked to his room and put on the trench-coat outfit. He didn't really like it too much, but he didn't mind, why should he have to look good for that cat anyhow? The guy didn't even have the manners to show up on time.

"I'm going Bentley!" He called out racing out the door.

-

"I would but I'm busy." Cooper sighed sitting on a bench near the Eiffel Tower, "Well I know it's been awhile, but there's a lot of heists I got to do at the moment, plus I meeting some cat…Will? Yeah Will, or something like that…"

The raccoon thief was talking on his cell-phone that he kept secret. Bentley was a worrywart and didn't like the idea of having phones, being wanted fugitives in all. It was understandable, but the raccoon didn't like to be un-social.

As he sat on the bench he didn't realize that a pair of eyes was watching diligently. Sitting casually in the tree directly behind the master thief was the guy he was supposed to be meeting, and the cat was smirking, "So this is the great thief, the Cooper, Greg?" He laughed silently into the communicator.

"Will, what if he catches you watching him?" Greg asked worriedly, "I mean…what if he's a killer or something? What if he's not even a Cooper!"

"Calm down; he's a Cooper alright." The cat leaned in closely as he listened in on the conversation the thief was having, "I don't think this guy is a killer, in fact he doesn't even seem to be fit for a thief."

"You still have a grudge I presume?" The bat replied, "I wouldn't bring it up. Clockwerk is a big deal, you know that as well as I, and Cooper's taken him out before. He'd be a valuable asset, don't screw this up because you have some harsh feelings."

"No worries…" Pausing he looked at the wristwatch underneath his darkened sleeve, "It's time, contact you afterwards."

"Remember, don't ** him off!" The bat said before they disconnected.

Descending down to the ground, the Felidae landed without a noise behind the unsuspecting thief. Cooper was mumbling into the cell-phone quietly about some matter of hating Felidaes. The cat arched his back and rested his paws on the raccoon's shoulders, "Boo."

The raccoon that hadn't expected to be grabbed jumped forwards out of his seat in the process dropping the phone, which proceeded to break into three separate sections, "…To think…I only had three more payments on it." The thief mused.

"You sure you're a master thief? You seem like a beginner to me." Felidae replied crossing his arms, "You look a little young too."

"Look who's talking." Sly growled back, "And for you information, I'm twenty."

"How cute." The cat chuckled. "Now, what more do we need to discuss?"

"Bentley wants you to join the gang. He says that your good in the field, plus he wanted to know if your gang would come along with you." Cooper stated cocking his head, "What do you say?"

"Anything to make you uncomfortable." Will smirked. He could tell that his words and his actions had extremely irritated his long time enemy. Truth be told, he didn't have any hard feelings towards Sly. Their families had grown bitter once more two hundred years ago, and it seemed to carry on with the Coopers. However, William saw no reason to bear resentment towards Cooper.

Sly wasn't feeling much loathing for the Felidae like he expected to. If anything this thief was annoying and extremely full of himself, but Sly wasn't about to blow off this entire mission over his personal opinion of the guy.

"I heard about your situation with Miss Carmelita Fox. Must be fun being on the run from her all the time hm? I have my own little stalker. Though I can expect she will catch me." William said with a frown. "When I'm ready to be caught that is." William murmured, thinking about the look on Rosalia's face when she remembered him. It was like yesterday when he had humiliated the little "popular" group just to get her to smile. It wasn't easy for Rosalia at all in high school, but she was making it easy in the real world. She had become quite a feared and beautiful bounty hunter.

"Alright. So what's the plan cat?" Sly asked not liking how the Felidae talked about his situation what so ever. William thought for a moment.

"The blue prints were cut up, and sent to 10 different parts of the world. It was rumoured that the greatest inventors in history all possessed a piece and it will be in their respective countries or some surrounding one. If anybody gets ahold of those blue prints and they are smart enough to figure them out...We will not live long enough to suffer. With today's technology, it will be Clockwork 2.0. If you beat him the first time, and the second time imagine how difficult it will be the third when the weaknesses become strengths." William explained silently.

"I was told the son of Arpeggio would assemble the blue prints then Clockwork. What reasoning would he have for that? So he could be in control of the world? So he could eliminate the thief families?" Sly asked with a look of confusion.

"He is disabled. He uses mechanical parts to move around. At least that's the information that Greg gave me. His sanity is questionable at times, so it could've just been metaphorical or something. If this genius gets ahold of Clockwork, we are looking at a demented psycho path with IMMORTALITY. He will NOT die." William explained.

Sly nodded. "Then we HAVE to get ahold of the blue prints." Sly murmured keeping his distance from William.

"Before we continue Cooper, let me tell you that I hold no hostility towards you or your family. Clockwork took my parents from me, and I know you went through that if anything. I can relate to you, and that's probably the only reason I'm agreeing to work with you. There's only thing that I must ask before we make this verbal contract official. Can you keep up?" William asked as he held out his gloved hand.

Sly looked to the Felidae for a moment, not completely trusting him. He was cocky, arrogant and extremely relaxed. If he shook hands with this thief, what would he be getting himself into? Then again, if he was William's ally it would be easier to keep an eye on his activities and keep him from doing something shady with the blue prints. He shook hands with his "former" enemy. "This will only be in effect until we are done with this." Sly murmured.

"FELIDAE!" A shout broke the silence, and William sighed as he looked behind him. Panting atop a roof top, her trench coat fluttering in the breeze.

"Cooper meet Rosalia De Lupe. Sexiest and deadliest bounty hunter in the Western World." William said with a bored expression.

Rosalia looked to who William was talking to and her eyes widened. Not only had she apprehended the infamous William Von Felidae but also Sly Cooper! This was quite a night! A grin spread on her lips as she fired a stun shot towards William, but he quickly jumped back.

"Better start running Cooper! Let this be a test!" William shouted as he quickly ran towards the narrowed streets, with Sly following quickly after him.

Sly chuckled as he ran behind William, beginning to climb metal balcony ladders to get on the roof tops. "Something funny?" William asked as he made it to the top of the roof.

"She reminds me of Carmelita. Minus the grin she planted on her face right before she began firing." Sly said as he got on the roof top as well. Several shots barely missed the two as they began to run and jump from roof top to roof top.

"This the thanks I get Rose? Come on! Give me a break!" William shouted behind him as he dodged more electrical blaster shots.

"I'll give you a break William! Believe me! I will!" Rosalia shouted as she stood atop a taller building, and fired more shots.

"She sounds upset with you! What did you do!" Sly asked, annoyed with how one little trip outside his hide out turned into another game of cops and robbers. If it was Carmelita he wouldn't have minded as much.

"That's a story for another time Cooper. Now keep running!" William shouted. Rosalia growled as she switched the shooting speed of her weapon. It would waste more of the battery and possibly burn out the weapon all together but if she had a shot at one of them then she could easily get a gold plated one.

"You are mine." Rosalia said with a chuckle as she fired upon the two. Six shock blasts hurtled towards the pair that were running from roof top to roof top. William dodged two that came his way, but Sly was not so lucky. He got the other four hurtling towards him, and he was hit by one of them. The shock quickly knocked him out and he fell before he could jump to the next roof top.

"You are next Will! Stand still and smile! I'm sure they'll treat you well in prison!" Rosalia said with a smirk as she charged up her weapon once more, but nothing came out of it.

"What? No! Damn it! Mon Dieu! How can this be!" Rosalia shouted as she shook the pistol. It was not shooting. By the time she looked back to the roof top, William AND Cooper were nowhere to be seen.

"Having trouble Rose?" A familiar Spanish Fox called from behind, as she arrived. Rosalia threw the Pistol against the wall, shattering it into pieces.

"With junk Interpo weapons, I can't do a thing!" Rosalia growled. Carmelita rolled her eyes.

"You shot at Cooper. You forgot that he is MY assignment not YOUR bounty. What's more is that you let both him and your bounty get away. Such arrogance." Carmelita shouted with a flare of anger in her eyes.

"Save it for your chief Madam." Rosalia murmured quietly.

"You hesitated Rose. That isn't like you at all." Carmelita said in more calm tone. Rosalia snorted.

"Shows what you know Fox." Rosalia said as she made her way towards the stair case that led to the base of the bell tower she was previously standing in.

Meanwhile, William had graciously taken the unconscious Sly Cooper back to his hide out and threw him onto the couch. He wanted to draw on Cooper so badly, but Greg stopped him on multiple occasions. When Sly actually awoke, he looked to see William watching T.V and Greg typing rapidly on his computer.

"Morning sleeping beauty. Had a good sleep?" William asked as he turned off the T.V. Sly's eyes widened, remembering the previous night's events. He was hit by a shock blast from Rosalia. Sly stood up quickly and glared at William.

"What did you do to me? What did you do?" Sly asked quickly, and with worry. William chuckled and jokingly pushing his fingers together mischievously.

"Nothing. Thanks to me. I let Bentley know that you are here." Greg pointed out. The fact that someone else was in the room brought Sly a sense of security.

"She hit you good didn't she?" William said with a smirk. Sly sighed as he rubbed his eyes.

"Wanna tell me now why she's so upset with you?" Sly asked. William got silent for a moment.

"He stood her up at prom. No biggy. That was the night she snapped and beat up EVERYONE that made fun of her though. It was a sweet and sour sight." Greg said from where he sat on his computer.


	4. Chapter 4: Getting to Know Them

Chapter 4: Getting to Know Them

"Do you always wake up late?" Williams asked in a sarcastic tone to the now irritated raccoon lying on his back on the couch. Yawning the raccoon stretched and stood up with a smirk.

"Yeah…usually…I sleep during the days and stay up all night, all part of the raccoon package." Cooper smirked gleefully before wondering towards the door; William blocked him before he could get out.

"Oh no you don't, if you go outside you could blow my cover." The cat said with seriousness, "The lady next door thinks I'm a baker. How odd would it look if a thief that has wanted posters of him all over town walked right out of my door?" William asked with a raised eyebrow.

This caused anticipated anger to come from the raccoon. He balled up a fist and threw a punch; the cat easily caught it in his hand and threw Cooper backwards. "The Felidae are just as fluent in martial arts as the Coopers, if not more." William said with a grin.

The thief however scrambled to his feet and knocked the cat down. William gave a grunt as he hit the floor and scowled at the raccoon chuckling. The cat grabbed his leg and yanked it making him hit the floor with his face.

"Clam down guys." Greg said not even looking at what was going on.

"You're pretty full of yourself, aren't you?" Cooper said getting up off the floor along with the cat that shook out the leg he landed on that slightly hurt.

"Yes, yes I am." William said with a grin. Truth be told he was acting as stuck up as possible just to irritate the Cooper.

"I think your right up on the scoreboards with Carmelita on my angry at list." The raccoon mumbled sitting back down on the couch, his tail flattened out to the side of him on the couch as he did.

The cat raised an eyebrow and sat down next to the raccoon. He couldn't help but stare at the tail and pretty soon he grabbed it. The raccoon yelped, "Ouch! Don't touch that!" The cat sniggered and released the tail.

"Too many shock blasts I'm guessing?" William smirked. He could tell the Cooper was sensitive about his tail, and so was he. He would never tell him about that though.

"Leave the kid alone Will." Greg scolded from the computer.

"Just cause I'm five years younger, I'm a kid." The raccoon rolled his eyes, "Somebody failed math."

"Twitchy tail." Will coughed into his hand.

"Will! Come on! That's enough! Time to stop acting like elementary school students, and start acting like world infamous thieves!" Greg said finally turning around, and revealing the headset he always wore. It was just the right size for his head, and was similar to the one William had. Since it was difficult for Greg to see as a bat, he used the various features of the goggles to see. The features include thermal vision, regular vision, 'high definition' vision and night vision.

Greg sighed and got up from the computer seeing as how his friend was being immature and being noisy about it. He sat between Will and Sly and pulled out a needle, "Sly I can fix your tail, it'll kind of sting though."

"No thanks I-OUCH!" He screamed falling backwards at the sudden needle puncture to his tail. William sat in his chair for a moment, rolling his eyes as Sly hollered in pain.

"Oh ha, ha, ha, very funny." He bitterly responded holding his tail protectively against himself.

Greg couldn't help but chuckle, "So, Cooper, I was talking to Bentley a little while last night. He informed me that you have a large gang, and a new member as well?"

"Yes…" The raccoon looked up thoughtfully, "Penelope is our RC specialist, the Guru is our mythical guide, Dimitri is our frogman, Murray is the get away driver and muscle, Bentley is the brains, Panda King is our demolitions expert, and…Trish is in the field of hacking, and planning as Bentley."

"Trish huh…she cute?" William asked with a wink.

"Thought you had a stalker." The raccoon replied with a raised eyebrow.

"Well that doesn't mean I can't have somebody I stalk. You saw how sinister she was. Though she is extremely attractive, she's equally INSANE." The cat murmured and he looked over at Sly to see him drifting off into another place.

The raccoon didn't seem anything like the cat expected. He was clever, quick, funny, heck…if they weren't sworn enemies…he'd be his best friend! One thing he did notice was that the raccoon looked depressed and seemed to fake smiles.

Never had he met a Cooper not wrapped up in himself; of course he'd never met any Cooper except this one, but he'd read about the Coopers. He felt sort of bad for picking on the coon because he seemed so down, but he couldn't help his personality…maybe he could loosen up?

How could somebody look so angry at themselves all the time, and fake a cocky attitude with such ease amazed the cat. He took a good guess that at the moment the raccoon was thinking about his, 'stalker' or some other lady love, maybe he was thinking about something that caused him pain…he sure looked that way.

"So what's you and Fox's history?" He asked casually hoping that didn't cause offense, and glad he broke the raccoons stare at the wall.

"Nothing important." The raccoon shrugged, "Just chases me is all."

"…I see…" Watching the raccoon's body movements he could tell he was lying, "How about Trish?"

"No." Cooper shifted reclining his head backwards.

"Bentley wants to have a get to know day." Greg smirked, "A really good idea seeing as how fine you two have gotten along. Lets get going."

When they arrived Sly disappeared upstairs whilst everybody in the gang crowded around the cat and bat greeting them. William bit his lip curious as to why the raccoon wasn't apart of this function, and slowly slipped upstairs without being discovered.

There were ten doors.

"Great." He mumbled to himself before venturing down the hall.

He cracked each door open until he came to one that had a bit of shuffling going on, smirking he cracked it open to find nobody except a shuffling noise from the closet. The cat watched for a while and soon enough a raccoon tail peeked out and soon followed Cooper backing out of the musty closet.

The raccoon collapsed on the bed on his stomach with a sigh. The cat smirked, "He makes this way to easy."

Sneaking up he put his hands on Coopers back and saying once again, "Boo."

The thief this time almost fell off the side of the bed, but the cat caught him and tossed him back into a lying position on the bed. "I know you have to a lot better than this." The cat mused, "You had to have noticed me in the crack of the doorway, master thieves always look for those sort of things."

"So?" The raccoon rolled his eyes, "I'm not in the mood for your games okay? I got more important things going on."

"Clockwerk parts don't matter?" The cat rebuked.

"I didn't say that." Cooper heaved a sigh, "Just go back down stairs, this is off limits."

"Oh, so now you're my leader huh? What next are you gonna steal my wallet and keep the money?" The cat questioned, "That's all Coopers do, you know."

The raccoons jaw tightened and he looked at the floor, "Please just leave, I'm not in the mood to deal with your crap."

"Your just mad because I'm right." Will said, "You just lead a gang and they do all the work for you, then you just keep all the money!"

Sly stood and William was expecting blind fury, but instead Sly pressed his hands together to make one solid fist. "Listen. Everyone steals for worse reasons. We have a Cooper vault where we put all our cash. We don't uselessly spend it on anything WE want. We save it. The point of stealing for the Coopers is for the art of stealing. I don't know what you think you know about the Coopers but you might as well erase all that from your head right now." Sly murmured with a sigh. He was honestly getting tired of being upset with this fool. He was more caught up in himself and his family, so much that he didn't even bother to let go of what the Felidae said about the Coopers in the book.

William was hit hard by this information. All the Felidae books told him that the Coopers were always stealing for their own benefit, and spending to their heart's content. It was difficult to think otherwise, but William knew that Sly wouldn't lie about something within his family.

"What do you Felidae do with your money anyway? Just give it to a charity and be done with it?" Sly asked out of curiosity.

"We give it to whoever needs it. Should it be the poor, the unfortunate or..." William closed his eyes for a moment. "Those without anyone to care for them." William murmured. "You have a good sleep Cooper. When you wake up Greg is going to badger you with information." William said, his mood seeming deflated as he left the Cooper's room.

When William got back down stairs he looked at all of the Cooper's gang and felt a twinge of jealousy. The size of his gang was only him and Greg. That's all they ever really needed though.

"Hey! William! I was just telling Bentley here about your family's marvellous tool! Come show him!" Greg said eagerly. William approached Bentley and took off his wrist device. He then handed it to the turtle.

"Wh-What does it do exactly? Looks like a fashion accessory." Bentley said as he turned it in his hands.

"Don't start pressing buttons out of the blue. I don't know what some sequences do. It could very much blow up, and destroy us all." Greg warned.

"The Coopers had their canes and the Felidae have this. Ever since Egypt, when there was competition with the Coopers my great ancestor designed this. Can you guess who helped add its first mechanism? The stone pick?" William asked Bentley with a grin. "He was a GENIUS of that time. There's a hint." William murmured.

"O-Only geniuses I can think of back then are..."

"Imhotep! It was Imhotep!" Penelope said eagerly. William nodded with a grin.

"Yes. Throughout history the leader of the Felidae, which was basically the best thief in the family, would receive this and add onto it by asking geniuses of their time." William pointed out with a proud grin. "It is a work of not one genius, but many." William said as he looked over at Greg.

"Alright then. Now that our little get together is out of the way. We should start tracking down WHO stole the blue prints and WHO the blue prints were given to. The faster we finish this, the better." Greg stated with a nod.

"Sounds good. I'm starving though so if you'll excuse me. I'll have to go into disguise." William said as he left the Cooper hide out and slowly made his way along the roof tops. He sat down on one of the roof tops that had the clearest sight of the moon. He enjoyed looking at the moon, especially when it was full. It was very mesmerizing and he felt very relaxed when he looked at it. He never could explain why that was, but even as a child he would just stare at the moon for a few minutes every night when there was nothing blocking it.

There was a silent charging behind him, and William slowly turned his head to see Rosalia standing right there, panting as if she had run a marathon. William chuckled as he stood slowly. "Put the gun down Rose. I know you are tired. If I run off you won't catch me. Save yourself the disappointment."

"So cocky Felidae. You always were." Rosalia said with a smirk as she pulled on the trigger for a moment.

"Would it be too late to say sorry?" William asked with a grin as he dodged the blaster shot. Rosalia's eyes widened in anger.

"You think I'm hunting you over that? You really ARE full of yourself!" Rosalia snapped as she threw her weapon to the floor and quickly grabbed William by the collar of his shirt. She lift him up and threw him against the wall with great ease.

"The only reason I'm after you Felidae is because there is ALOT of Euro on your empty head. What happened years ago I care nothing for!" Rosalia growled as she met eyes with him to prove her point.

William smiled. "If that's so, then why are you taking so long to knock me out? I heard you were quite the mercenary Rose. A good mercenary never lets their prey think." William murmured with a grin.

"You are right. I have a reputation to up hold." Rosalia murmured as she took out a miniature blaster pistol from her boot leg. "Let's play roulette Felidae. Like you did that night." Rosalia growled into his ear, pressing her cheek against his. The laser was charging up when William quickly pushed her back with his knee's and grinned. "You took too long!" William said with a smirk as he began to run off, and into the narrow alleys of the city. Rosalia rubbed her stomach where she was kneed. It only hurt for a moment, and she could tell William could've done much worse. She sighed as she put the pistol back in her boot and looked to the moon.

"You are such a fool De Lupe. Such a fool." Rosalia murmured to herself as she sat down on the ledge he was at only moments before, gazing to the moon as well.


	5. Chapter 5: Pity and Mercy

**Chapter 4: Pity and Mercy**

Will had made his way back to the hideout after a hearty meal from a local fast food restaurant. He never liked staying in Paris for long, because the only good food was the fancy kind. Making his way inside he found that everybody had gone to bed, Greg had taken up the couch, leaving the cat to wonder were to sleep, "Better go ask Cooper." He laughed to himself as he snuck upstairs again.

He remembered Cooper's door and opened it. The raccoon however wasn't in his bed, or the room for that matter. Blinking rapidly the thief looked around for clues and saw the window was open slightly. A smile spread across his face, and he opened it before climbing to the top of the roof.

There was still no raccoon but a couple buildings away there was. He could see the figure jumping skilfully across the big gapes between buildings, twirling, and flipping through the air to wherever he was going. Will was curious to know where exactly the raccoon was going and raced after.

Soon enough the raccoon had stopped and William had to stop running to avoid making any noise. Cooper had stopped right in front of a police station and looked confused on what to do. The cat's eyes lit up in confusion, "Is he thinking about turning himself in or something? Surely not…"

That theory proved him wrong when he saw the raccoon pounce onto on of the windowsills and open the window. William's eyes grew wide, "What the heck is he doing!"

The cat pounced after and caught Cooper by the waist. Cooper was surprised and tumbled backwards off the sill along with the cat. One arm still around the raccoon the cat used his device to shoot out a rope to catch them mid flight to death. Jerking it he and Sly bounced onto the roof.

Cooper pushed the cat off of him and gave a growl, "What is your problem cat!"

"You're the one with the problem!" The cat replied, "Who turns themselves into the cops?"

Right then and there the cat noticed something; Cooper was hiding his face. That was a clear sign he was either angry and didn't want to give him the pleasure of seeing it or, he was crying for some odd reason unknown to him, "I just wanted to see Inspector Fox cat, one last time before I left in her in the dust for the crazy heist." The raccoon spoke in a slow voice as if to control some of the shaky-ness to it.

Without another word he bounded across the rooftops towards his hideout. The cat was awestruck; why would a thief want to see a cop? Then he got his reply as harsh breathing came as well as some curses. Turning himself away as if not reveal who he was he listened as the fox spoke.

"Cooper you have some nerve coming here." Her voice seemed emotional, even more than the raccoon's had been, "You said you loved me, said that we were going to get married, and you lied!"

The Felidae now realized why the raccoon had been so down, he'd left a life with his fair lady for thievery! It made perfect sense, and the cat could connect on that sort of thing…

"All you do is steal! That's all you care about. You know…you…you could have at least talked to me and not just left in the night. Do you know how worried I was those first weeks? Then I have to get a partner and I have to chase you down with a shock pistol! Then you get even more stupid and hang out with a Felidae! Rosalia could have killed you."

"She wouldn't have killed Cooper. Her anger is more focused on me, for your information." William pointed out. Carmelita growled as she gave him a "Shut up or I blast you" look. He went silent after that his ears pressing against his head.

The cat didn't respond for a moment, he was a master imitator in voices but needed time to think of what to say. He'd never really been in love with somebody like Cooper seemed to be with this fox, "Carmelita I came here to tell you I was sorry, and make sure you were okay."

"That's all you can say!" She screamed whipping out a pistol.

"Uho…" The cat muttered taking off full speed across the rooftops with the fox following in pursuit.

"You're not Cooper! You're Felidae!" She yelled seeing him now, "Your going to pay for almost getting Sly killed!"

"I saved him! I brought him back to my hideout!" William yelled back, "I just caught him from entering your office to talk to you, and he took off back to his hideout! He was upset!"

Suddenly the fox stopped, "He was" Carmelita said as she lowered her pistol.

"I…don't know he wouldn't let me see his face." The cat admitted, "He left because of Clockwork."

"Clockwork?" The fox blinked. That was surely some stupid excuse! Clockwork had disappeared after she had destroyed the hate chip. "You are lying." She said as she lifted her pistol towards him once more.

"A new villain has stolen the blue prints, and Cooper left you to stop them from rebuilding that monster, then he got help by adding me and my gang." Will replied.

"It still doesn't give him the right to leave me, I could've helped." The female vixen replied throwing her pistol of the rooftop in anger.

"Would you want the ones you cared about in danger? You want to know why Rosalia is so eager to take me down? The same reason you are upset with Cooper. I left her at a dance after I learned of my family history. After I learned what Clockwork would do to those I cared about should he ever find out a Felidae was alive." William explained silently.

"Just go." The fox growled, "He's a liar and so are you." The Interpol agent walked away without another word just as Cooper had done, then jumped off the rooftop before silently going back to Interpol.

"Why would Cooper and Fox be talking about marriage across rooftops?" He whispered as he took the fox's advice in leaving.

Upon entering the house he went back upstairs and found Cooper was now in his bedroom covering his face with his hands. He was sitting on the edge of his bed and his cane was on the floor, as was his mask that looked like he'd wanted to tear it up with a couple minor tears in it. His hat was also on the ground looking the same way.

"You care alot for her don't you? Never thought you were the crying type." William murmured at the door. Cooper made no response, or even acknowledged the Felidae. William sighed and rubbed his eyes.

"You know Rosalia hates me because of a similar situation? I left her at prom because that was the night I realized what my last name carried. I am a thief of the family Felidae. Not safe what so ever. It was better for her to go off and find a NORMAL guy." William said as he got just a little closer to Sly.

"How did you feel after doing that? Did you feel satisfied?" Sly asked in a low murmur. His voice was still a bit shaky. To that, William chuckled.

"I can't say I loved her Cooper. I didn't want to marry her. I didn't even think we'd last a week. Although, I felt awful for leaving her alone at prom of all times. What could I have done? If Clockwork knew I was alive, he'd immediately go after her would he not to damage my spirit before taking a shot at me?" William pointed out as he stared to the floor. "I'm happy for her though. She makes a living hunting wanted criminals. Probably glad that she'll get to throw me in jail too."

"You just don't get it do you? The relationship Carmelita and I share is stronger then you and your crazy bounty hunter ex girl friend. I would sacrifice myself if it kept her safe. I almost did too." Sly pointed out in anger.

William smirked. "I don't think I will ever understand your relationship with her Cooper. Though I have a feeling you'll pull through. Don't do anything so stupid again, you understand? Carmelita might hesitate to arrest you but NOT the other Interpol agents. I know one that is not to be messed with." William said as he thought about it for a moment.

"Which one is that?" Sly asked, only really having to deal with Carmelita for most of his criminal career.

"They call him Huracán Diablo. Pretty sure he earned that name because of his aggression. If my Spanish is correct, it pretty much means Hurricane Demon." William explained.

Sly rolled his eyes. "Every time something new comes up, I get more authorities on my tail."

"They won't send him after YOU. Pfft. If you stole the crown of the Queen of England then MAYBE. I've personally never been pursued by him." William explained.

"Well, at least we know he won't be a problem. Now would you please, just leave? I need to be alone." Sly murmured, getting slightly annoyed with William's presence. William nodded and left the door way, deciding to sleep against the couch in the living room. He would have serious neck pains, but he didn't really care.

As he laid against the couch, he took off his cloak and his devices placing them next to himself. He thought about Sly's situation and then his own with Rosalia. He began to compare how Carmelita felt about Sly to how Rosalia must feel about him. She was probably furious with him leaving her alone at prom with no explanation. She must have been worried rather than upset that he wasn't there. She never wanted to go to Prom until he had asked her.

Perhaps the next time he saw her, he'd give her an apology, regardless of how she pretended to be hunting him for. With that thought he began to fall asleep.

When he awoke, it seemed as though the living room had changed entirely as file upon file was stacked upon the Coffee table and everyone was eating breakfast or getting ready for the day. "Morning sleepy head. Best you get washed up before we begin talking about the mission."Penelope said from where she sat on the couch.

"Ugh. What time is it?" William murmured as he rubbed his head. Bentley rolled into the living room with his wheel chair.

"It is about, 12:03 p.m. You were out for a long time. Even more than Sly." Bentley pointed out.

"Oh. Well what is there to settle then? I see ten files on the desk." William asked as he crossed his legs and put on his devices, not the cloak.

"Those are documents on the ten that have the pieces of the blue prints. Sly and his gang will take five of them and we will take the other five." Greg explained as he came into the living room as well.

"Interestingly enough, one of these scum buckets used to work with someone related to you William." Penelope pointed out as she reached into the pile and pulled out one of the folders. She handed it to him.

William opened the folder to see the picture of a demented looking Iguana with Einsteinish hair and large spectacles. Beside the photo was a long report.

"Leonardo Mosalino. Mad scientist, worked alongside Sebastian Von Felidae. Well, I wish I knew anyone named Sebastian let alone someone in my family. Doesn't look to sane, but I'll take him. I'll let Sly and all of you handle the son of Arpeggio." William said in a slow way as if he was in thought. He closed the document folder and placed it on the couch.

"He's in Italy. Now what about the other 4 you'll take?" Bentley asked. William thought for a moment.

"There's one in Mexico, I'll take that. Russia, America and Switzerland. Sound good? You get the rest." William asked as he placed the files on the couch for Greg to pick up when they left.

"You should keep in contact with us via Thief Net. When we have all the parts to the blueprints we'll have to destroy them to avoid this ever happening again." Bentley pointed out.

"Now, I just have a few things to avoid. Rosalia, Interpol, and the local authorities of these countries. It'll be easy." William said with a smirk.

"Don't get cocky Will. Not with these guys. They are just as bad as you are, if not much worse in terms of crime. Some of these criminals are in corrupt countries where they could just pay off the police and have their criminal records wiped CLEAN. We have little to no intelligence on what they are capable of." Greg went on and on.

"No worries. I'll manage." William said quietly as he stood.

"Wait. How will you be getting to these places?" Penelope asked curiously.

"Easy. We are going to fly. I have a friend with a don't ask don't tell policy. Just give him the money, and he will take you anywhere you like." William murmured as he put his cloak over his shoulder.

"Well good luck. Keep in touch and be careful. Last thing we need is for you to go down and leave more pieces of the blue prints for Sly to go after." Bentley said jokingly.

"Gee. Thanks." William said with a raised eyebrow as he made his way out of the door, with Greg following and holding the documents on their targets.

As they made their way back to their own hideout, William was looking around ALOT. "Are you looking out of worry or hope Will? It's broad day light in a busy city street. Why on earth would a bounty hunter come after you under these circumstances?" Greg pointed out.

"That's not what I was looking out for Greg. Just being cautious of myself is all." William said quietly, not really being that convincing.

"Ok, if you say so. By the way William, we are going to need some muscle of our own to complete our little group. Sly has plenty of help but we need more. This is definitely going to get messy if we just treat it like a regular heist."

"Greg. Don't worry about it. If it comes to us needing more help, then we'll cross that bridge when we come to it." William murmured in a quiet tone.

Once they reached the hide out, a shock blast hit the door frame. "Welcome home Will." Rosalia said from where she sat on his couch.

"Ok, first of all. I'm pretty sure the creepiness of your obsession over catching me just went up a level. Two, this isn't really that fair." William said as he dodged another pistol blast.

"I am not like Carmelita Will. I don't need a warrant to catch your sneaky butt. Now I advise you come quietly, or I'll make you scream." Rosalia said with a satisfied face. Greg quickly through another shock charge at Rosalia, and it knocked her out in milliseconds. Her pistol hit the floor, and she slumped back in the couch.

"Shall we?" William murmured with a grin as he looked to Greg, and reached into a pocket.

"Do lets." Greg said with a smirk.

/

When Rosalia awoke, she groaned and rubbed her head. Once she realized what had happened once again she stood and grabbed her pistol off the floor aiming it in all directions. She paused for a moment as she noticed several things were missing from the apartment. On the living room table there was a note.

"_The mirror holds the answer." _

Rosalia scratched her head in confusion, but approached the bathroom with caution. Once she got in she turned on the lights and screamed. In her reflection within the bathroom mirror there was a crudely drawn moustache and smiley faces all over her face! What flowed out of the female's mouth seconds after was a series of curse words in French.


	6. Chapter 6: Separation at the Crossroad

**Chapter 6: Separation at the Crossroads**

Cooper had gotten in the new car for the trip. Bentley had insisted that they get a new car instead of using the old junkie car from when they'd been a trio. Murray didn't agree at first, so the turtle allowed him to choose the car. Needless to say they got stuck with a C.S.I looking van. It was large, seated around 15 people, and had plenty of room for gadgets. Plus, the raccoon had painted it black along with his hippo friend when Bentley fell asleep.

They'd decided the first place to tackle was Italy. Sly was very familiar with the layout, and could easily find anything he was looking for, including wave points. It would take awhile to get there, and some heavy sneaking. The gang at first wanted to go to Cuba, but Bentley has insisted they go to what was closest first. The gang piled up in the van, got their fake Ids drove to the airport, loaded up the car, and they were off.

Though complications struck, and everybody but Sly had to transfer to a different plane, leaving him alone with two seats. The plane itself that he was on had only about twenty people on, and about fifty seats. Cooper had quickly chosen one close to the back and sat down.

Whilst sitting on the airplane, Sly decided to take out Bentley's laptop to pass time. The raccoon couldn't bear being left to his own thoughts, mostly because they involved Carmelita. He was sort of angry with William for catching him trying to sneak into her office, at the same time however he knew it would have ruined the whole plan. The thief knew he couldn't let his feelings get in the way of this big adventure, like always he'd have to shove how he felt aside…which was infuriating to him.

Logging onto he began to browse through different things until he saw his chat window pop up. The face of Greg appeared in the picture of who was chatting, as well as a small message;

MasterOfAllHacking: Hey Cooper, where you guys headed?

SJC: Italy, Venice, you?

MasterOfAllHacking: Not sure yet, we're just hitting the road and deciding from there.

SJC: Well if all goes as planned, we should have the first blueprint as of tonight.

MasterOfAllHacking: Sounds good…um Will wants to talk to I guess, peace.

SJC: …Okay…peace Greg

The raccoon clicked out of the screen not really wanting to talk to the fur-ball, but obviously that wasn't an option. The window kept lighting up, signaling that Williams was constantly sending messages. Rolling his eyes he clicked into the window, and 14 messages popped up all saying;

FelidaeWill: Gonna reply?

SJC: What do you want cat.

FelidaeWill: Well I was gonna ask about last night, what made you want to turn yourself in?

SJC: Because it would make Carmelita happy

FelidaeWill: I'm guessing you're a hopeless romantic, or something?

SJC: I guess you could say that…

FelidaeWill: Hm…well that gets you killed.

SJC: I think I've learned that.

FelidaeWill: At least you learned one thing XD

SJC: (Punches) I'm getting off.

FelidaeWill: I know your cell #

SJC: So? I can turn it off.

FelidaeWill: I know how to activate your communicator.

SJC: I can take the batteries out.

FelidaeWill: I'm sitting behind you.

SJC: …Greg said you were on the road.

FelidaeWill: WERE Cooper, you're going to Italy, and next stop on this plane is where we're headed.

SJC: I don't believe you.

"Boo." A voice came from behind. The raccoon jumped a bit and then snarled at the smirking feline behind him.

"Why in the hell do you keep doing that?" He demanded angrily shutting the computer and slumping into the seat. The cat moved up a seat and sat next to the raccoon that scooted closer towards the window. Rolling his eyes William moved over another seat and put his legs up so Cooper couldn't get up without making a scene.

"Where's your gang?" He asked raising an eyebrow, "I don't see about fifty people anywhere that look like thieves."

"They're on a separate flight." The raccoon quirked crossing his arms, "The car wouldn't fit on the plane, and there wasn't enough room on the next plane for me."

"They could have just stuffed you in a suitcase." Will chuckled.

"Thanks for the pleasant thought." Cooper shot back, "What do you want, Will?"

"Actually calling me by name, wow you learned something else!" He said sarcastically and quietly clapping not to disturb other people on the plane.

"I'm glad I can impress you." Sly replied rolling his eyes towards the window, "Why do you want to know so much about Carmelita, and I?"

"Just curious is all, and I like annoying you if you haven't noticed, which wouldn't be too far-fetched if you didn't considering…" He was cut off as the raccoon jumped over his feet and walked down the rows of the airplane until he reached an empty seat.

William sighed and went back to sitting with Greg. The bat sniggered at him as he sat back down, "Doesn't look like you two had a very long conversation."

"I don't know what the heck is with him and that fox…he mentioned that he's tried to protect her before, and I wanna know how." Will crossed his arms angrily, "When I'm curious I get answers, no matter how stubborn the person."

"Well, I have a brilliant idea, how about we both sit so he can't get up?" The bat raised an eyebrow; "Honestly I have no idea where your common sense goes Will."

The cat smiled, "That's what you're for, remember?"

Sighing at his friend's antics that bat rose to his feet and the cat followed. Will sat down next to an already sleeping Cooper and Greg sat next to him. The Felidae got a large grin on his face as he began to fiddle for a marker in his pockets, "Will, don't." Greg growled grabbing the marker from his hands.

"Fine." The cat said; he shook Cooper, and the raccoon's eyes shot open. When he looked over Will he saw Greg, and got a scowl on his face before rising to his feet. Though as soon as he tried to step over Will shoved him back down, "Come on Cooper, I just want to know." The cat said in a bored tone.

Cooper looked disinterested with the conversation but laid his head back on the chair, "There were a lot of occasions. The three biggest I can think of are the only ones I'm going to share. The first happened when I first went after Clockwerk. He'd captured Carmelita for the fact she'd expected me and gone there to catch me, but instead was found out, then locked up in a cage. So naturally I went through trials, and tribulations, got her out, and at the end of Clockwerk's battle, I kissed her, then handcuffed her to a railing."

Greg who hadn't really anticipated in listening went wide-eyed with interest, "Really? How mad did she get?"

The raccoon bit his lip, "Well…she broke the cuffs after the van took off, and they were pure metal…but also she took off after the van, and almost caught it when it was going at around eighty miles per hour."

"Wow, that's the true definition of **." Will laughed.

"The second time was when I was captured. A new constable by the name of Neyla had caught my sights, and worked with me through the venture of destroying the Clockwerk parts. In the end she betrayed me, and allowed me to get blasted off a fifty story high temple into a pit were the villain I'd been fighting was going to finish me off. It all ended up as Murray, Carmelita, and I chained up head to toe. Though once we arrived, I got into a fight with about twenty prison guards, and got sentenced to the 'hole'."

William gave a shiver at the name but didn't let Greg, or Cooper notice, "What's that exactly?"

"It's a damp dark hole basically. It's around twenty feet deep, muddy, and has rain pouring in every two seconds. There was no food given, or water unless you gulped the water that fell which wasn't a good idea. I went sort of insane and tried to get out on occasions, though I was beaten to death then thrown back in." The raccoon finished looking out the two thieves who now looked somewhat disturbed.

"How did it tie in with saving Carmelita?" Will asked curious now more than before.

"Luckily Bentley had made it out, and he rescued me from being brainwashed. So I started doing recon and found Carmelita being having the fate I would have had, so through many missions, I saved her once again." Cooper concluded.

"What was being used to brainwash, and by whom?" Greg asked, his scientific side awed by this.

"The Contessa used the Clockwerk eyes. It was her secret plan to brainwash thieves into telling her were their loot was and then killing them, or using them for another purpose. Since she had Murray on the ropes to telling were the money was, she didn't really need me, but was going to brainwash me into being her number one body guard…or some nonsense like that." Sly said.

"What was the third time?" William asked.

"I found out about my fathers vault, gathered a gang, and proceeded to go there to add to the fortune, or at least see a glimpse of the past. When I got there, the plans got messed up, and I was prisoner of Dr. M, or the former brains for Connor Cooper, my dad. He had one of his monsters crush the daylights out of me, and…"

"Wait…what did the monster look like?" Greg asked, once again intrigued.

Cooper winced, "I really don't like thinking about it but…lets just say it's finger nail was bigger than me, so it could have killed me any time it wanted too, but made me suffer through the pain. At some points it tried to eat me, but Dr. M didn't allow it too."

"What ended up happening?" The bat asked.

"Well…Carmelita shot the monster down with her troops, and I got away with a slight concussion. After we finally found a way to get into the vault I made my way through, but was cornered by Dr. M once again. We dueled until both of were weakened, then Carmelita showed up in all her glory…and…Dr. M tried to shoot her and…I took the bullet." The raccoon swallowed looking away for a moment.

"Where?" William asked.

"The chest. It hurtled be backwards into the ceiling and knocked me out. When I woke up Carmelita was there…and I…I took the chance too…well…pretend I lost my memory. I gave up all my thievery and became her partner, leaving everything behind…then after only two months…my gang found me, and…I…went back…" Cooper sighed heavily.

Nobody spoke for a moment, until Greg spoke up, "Well I could see how she could be upset, but I can also see how she shouldn't be."

"Hm. You are extremely sensitive Cooper. Not at all like your ancestors." William murmured quietly. "Good luck with whatever you have planned. Greg and I are switching planes after the terminal." William pointed out.

"To where?" Sly asked, not really caring, but allowing curiosity to take the best of him.

"Russia. Boris Polivstof is having a birthday ball and the best way I figure I'm going to get those prints is when he is busy with that." William explained.

The intercom boomed, "We're landing, please fasten your seatbelts and prepare for landing."

The three thieves didn't mind it, and when the plane landed Cooper hopped over the two thieves and got off the plane. The raccoon met up with his friends outside, as well as their car, and they took off to find a temporary safe-house.


	7. Chapter 7: Pride is his Folly

**Chapter 7: Pride is his folly **

Greg and Will walked through the airport and switched their planes. Once on the next airplane both sighed slumping in their chairs. The cat and bat hated traveling it was no un-obvious thing, both hated the air, and hated being up in it in a giant metal death trap.

Both were stressed by this mission; it wasn't often they did any thieving unless it involved museums, villains, and other matters then giving most of it the needy. This was way out of their character to be going some big adventure to stop world domination…they never imagined they'd be doing something so important.

Even if they helped people they never got anything in return for their efforts. Nobody really cared if they were helped or not anymore these days. William and Greg were really nervous about this whole venture, they wouldn't admit it but they weren't used to this yet.

Greg was mostly stressed for the fact he worried they weren't prepared like the Cooper Gang was. They had so many gang members, sleek new tech stuff, and LOTS of money to waste on anything they needed from the heists Cooper had been pulling to get the money for the adventure in the first place.

William wasn't as stressed as his nerdy friend, but wondered how this would all turn out. He'd talked to Cooper somewhat about how he'd dealt with his adventures, and was shocked at how many things the raccoon thief had encountered. Of course he was sure he wouldn't run into half the stuff that raccoon did.

They had the talent, and Greg sure in the heck could build anything they needed, but it was so nerve racking they forgot about those things. They just felt jealousy for the Cooper Gangs well being, and for the fact that they weren't secure in their abilities, when in all reality they were just as capable as the gang they'd teamed up with.

Will cocked his head towards the window and heaved a sigh. His bat friend looked at his childhood friend knowing that he was stressed just like him and decided to relieve the stress by talking.

"Cooper is strange." Greg finally said starting up a conversation, "I mean…who falls in love with a cop?"

"I can't understand it either." Will admitted, "But I guess whoever a man loves, he loves."

"True enough." Greg replied, "You realize that he is a little over the top with it…maybe you could teach him the ropes after this…adventure."

Will became tensed, "He is very over the top Greg…I caught the fool trying to turn himself into the cops for the sake of the girls happiness."

The bat's eyes widened, "Seriously?"  
Will nodded in response, "I think I should have told Bentley…but the raccoon at the moment probably didn't need to hear a lecture…I think he was actually crying, and I'm still not entirely sure."

"Hm…" Greg bit his lip, "You should get a lady love, Will."

"Where did that come from?" The cat laughed, "And no, I'm not turning into a hopeless romantic seeking the approval of some female…"

"It couldn't hurt." The bat shrugged, "Maybe you'll meet somebody at the ball…hey even Trish on Cooper's team. She looked nice, beautiful…intelligent…and deep…"

"You sound like you already have dibs on her." Will laughed into his paw, "Plus she's not my type, and this isn't really the time to think about getting a girlfriend. Clockwerk could very well already be built for all we know."

"Whatever, Will." Greg rolled his eyes. 

The truth of the matter was that William couldn't ever be with anyone. His life style was far too dangerous for any sort of family. He would only be doing damage to any children he'd have, much less the lady he'd choose. She would be stressed out of her mind!

"Lets concentrate on this heist. I want to make sure I'm just as good as Cooper, so we're going to try and be done by tonight." William said, "I can't have the twerp showing me up."

"Will! Sly Cooper's gang is large and full of different specialists, that's the only reason he gets things done so quickly!" Greg whispered harshly; he didn't like the idea of having to put together such quick plans.

"Come on, we are world class pal…and I'm sure any plan you make crushes his whole teams plans in the dust." The Felidae smooth-talked.

"Okay, Okay, fine." The bat hissed as the plan began to lose altitude to land.

After settling themselves in a comfortable abode, the two thieves got work on their plans of thievery. To get into the ball and make this a fast job, William would need a disguise. Greg had already found out were the prints were stored, so it was all up to Will to get the keys to the door, plus get in without getting caught. 

Getting a fake identification wasn't too difficult in Moscow. To the regular resident, it was just a regular town but to thieves it was a power house of opportunity. The black market in Moscow offered many things for William and Gregory. William was given the name Michael Ignatof and used that fake identification to get an invitation to Boris's ball.

Prior to going to the ball, William was sitting in his home preparing to put on his disguise. He was studying Boris's document, focusing more on his history.

Boris was never a wealthy child. Rumours went out that he inherited his great fortune after the fall of the soviet union. Though the truth of the matter was, that he was in the Russian Mafia and worked his way up to the top. William was not only dealing with a great criminal mastermind, but the head of the Russian Mafia. He was one of Interpol's most wanted, which meant William might even pull in extra revenue if he could turn the mob boss in!

Boris's mansion was atop one of the finer areas of Moscow. The huge white mansion was covered in snow, almost blending in with the environment in general. It was night time, so it was a tad bit colder then Will expected.

The handsome cat strode into the ballroom were the first villain, Boris Polivstof was throwing a party in honour of himself. William surveyed him as any great thief would; he was medium sized wolf, dark black fur with a white-streak going down the side of his face as if he'd been struck by lightning. Big blue eyes that looked as if the ocean created them, made the highlight of his whole face, the only thing that really stood out. As the rest of the men in the room he was wearing a tuxedo; this brought Will comfort in knowing that they couldn't run fast if something happened, even the guards had the tux's on!

The cat had successfully gotten through with his own personal tuxedo, and had used extra precaution by putting in contacts that made his eyes glow a dark purple. Perplexed by the eyes, people looked as if they wanted to approach him, but even William had to admit he always looked intimidating to everyone, even himself. Broad shoulders, thick strong long legs, a powerful looking chest, and even his face was enchantingly wicked with strong features.

He was handsome, but at the same time not a person that any one wanted to "tango" with.

Striding in with his head held up high and not with his nose in the air like most made the ladies coo with awe. Even if he didn't want a girlfriend, he could get one at anytime of his choosing. Though he had the power to get any fine woman in the room of his choosing, he wasn't a pig like most men, he was respectable, and a gentlemen.

The men had also noticed him, including Boris. The wolf strode up to him with arrogance and spoke in a sneering tone, "Well looked what the 'cat' dragged in." He then laughed with his associates.

William mentally panicked. Was this to indicate Boris was expecting a visit from a Felidae or just being a rude host? William calmed down after he realized it was most likely the second one. No one other then Interpol knew about the Coopers.

William straightened his tie, "You don't look so good yourself." With a fake smile so exaggerated the cat turned away from the wolf and began to walk in the opposite direction when he bumped into somebody.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" A female said with a desperate tone, "Please don't tell Mister. Boris!"

The cat chuckled but then his mouth slightly dropped open, "Um…not to be rude but…your gorgeous…"

The female waitress blushed, "You're not so bad yourself, mister…?"

"You can call me, Michael, belle dame." He smiled a charming toothy smile.

"Vous savez le francais, Mister William?" Her reply in perfect and fluent French. She was beautiful, Will couldn't describe in words how beautiful she actually was…words were common, and she was anything but…

"Dites-moi…Pensez-vous ca ici?" William cocked his head in question, "You seem too beautiful to be working for such a low man."

"You seem to be too mysterious, and nice to be one of his birthday guests." She replied with a wink.

"The lady is very smart, ah?" He waggled his eyebrows.

The vixen rolled her eyes but none the less walked past him before whispering, "Door 67, Mister William."

Once the Vixen made her ways away, William's eyes widened slightly. How on earth did she know? She was employed under Boris so it was most likely a trap. Did that mean that Boris was onto him as well? Who was his informant?

William's eyes narrowed slightly as he sat down near a table against the wall. The ballroom music was quite loud so it would be a bitter sweet effect if he attempted to converse with Greg. William pressed the button on the earpiece within his ear.

"Greg. There is a problem. I think Boris KNOWS I'm here. Lots of signs point to that." William whispered into his bow.

"_Well, Will that could be a possibility. I just did some quick research on who we bought our supplies and that invitation from...They have a direct lead to Boris! He knows what your real name is, and that you have the invitation! In fact, I think he is trying to bring you here for some reason!" _

"Attention everyone!" Boris said as he walked to the center of the room, and hit a glass with a fork gently. The music stopped and everyone looked to Boris.

"I would like to introduce you all to a fantastic lady that chose to accept my invitation to this great ball! Rosalia! Make your way over here!" Boris shouted in his hard Russian accent.

William's eyes narrowed as he took his hand off his ear piece, cutting off Greg in the middle of his explanation for the situation. He watched with great interest as none other than Rosalia De Lupe stepped out from the crowd. William's mouth was almost hitting the floor as he saw that she had REALLY made herself up for this ball of Boris's hubris!

She was wearing a marvellous purple dress, and her hair was curled at the tips. She wore a scarlet red lipstick and she was on heels. If William didn't know better, he wouldn't even believe it was Rosalia.

"Come here darling. Give me the pleasure of a dance!" Boris said with a grin. William's heart rammed his rib cage, out of infatuation for Rosalia and out of jealousy for Boris! He did not deserve to dance with her! He just wanted to look good!

The orchestra began to play a slow, but beautiful tune and Boris took Rosalia's hands. The two were slow dancing and Rosalia kept the same expression as she danced with the proud Russian Mob Boss. Many were just watching with awe at the grace that the two were showing. In the middle of their dance however, there was loud clapping from within the crowed.

Everyone turned to see that William was the one clapping, and he knew he was definitely going to regret his next sequence of actions.

"Comrade Boris. I have to admit you have a very fine ornament hanging from your hands. Though it's better to treat a fine piece of art with care not brutish strength." William said in a heavy Russian accent that almost mimicked Boris's. Boris growled and glared towards William.

"Who are you to call me Comrade? I don't recall even remotely knowing you. What's more is that you come to MY ball and tell me how to dance?" Boris snarled.

William said nothing more, and merely made his way through the path the crowd had made to the dance floor. He kept a bold smile plastered upon his face.

"Let me show you Comrade. Let me show you how to treat a lady." William said as he offered his hands to Rosalia. Rosalia hesitated for a moment but then looked to Boris with a snort.

"He has a point mes amis. You tend to throw me around like a rag doll." Rosalia said with a slight smirk at William's boldness to challenge the mob boss.

"Play something BEARABLE my friends. How about something I can dance to hm?" William asked with a grin, looking towards the orchestra. The players shrugged and began to play a speedier song with a higher pitch. It turned out to be jazz, and Will looked to Rosalia.

"I hope you can keep up." William said with a grin as he quickly spun her and reeled her back into his arm.

"Quite the thing to say to a lady." Rosalia said with a raised eyebrow as she and William continued their marvellously intimate and almost obscene jazz dance. Once they it had ended, and William held her close towards the ground with a single arm the crowd clapped. Will was exhausted, and Rosalia was surprised.

"My oh my. It seems you aren't all talk. I can't help but...Think I've met you before." Rosalia murmured as she was helped to stand up straight.

"Perhaps we have met earlier. I like to travel." William said with a grin, forgetting to apply his accent. Rosalia's eyes narrowed as she heard his REAL voice. Boris smashed a wine glass in his hand, without cutting his palm.

"Kick him...out...now!" Boris snarled to one of his guards. The huge polar bear guard nodded and with swift motion managed to get William by surprise on the dance floor right after he spoke his last sentence to Rosalia.

Rosalia was shocked for a moment, and when she came back to her senses with fury burning in her eyes it was too late to react. William was being taken out by a guard.

William groaned as he was thrown into the snow outside the mansion. The tuxedo was bought with a security deposit, and now it could not be returned because it was now damaged. Will sighed as he stood and pat himself free of the powdery white snow.

He activated his ear piece again as he slowly walked his way back to the hide out. "Greg. We got a problem."

"_Oh, besides the fact that you hang up on people before they finish talking!"_

"Yes. Besides that. We will need to find a way into the mansion again. Got kicked out of the party."

"_What? How! Why?" _

"None of that is important. Just start brain storming." William murmured as he slowly began to climb the metal ladder that lead to the room he and Greg were renting for the week.


	8. Chapter 8: A State of Emergency

**Chapter 8: A State of Emergency **

The male raccoon bent himself over the side of the railing of one of the bridges looking over the beautifully lit rivers of Italy. It was almost unreal to see such beauty, and so reminding of his last trip with Carmelita. He'd shared with nobody how the break-up happened, nor would he ever…who could tell such a heart tearing tale of a man willing to love a woman, and she in return threw him in the river allowing him to almost drown?

Shaking his head from those thoughts he began to sink into the mindset of thief mode. This heist would be simple, and at the same time challenging. Of course to a Cooper, it would be very simple, and simple to Cooper's was boring. This led to Cooper's trying to make things more technical and difficult to prove themselves worthwhile.

The raccoon suspected that maybe this wouldn't be as easy as he could picture in his mind, after all he was fighting somebody he had already fought before. That could only mean trouble. Anything that could be classified as easy was incognito and was actually hard.

The criminal was an old Mafia boss the raccoon had fought alone. His gang had never known of this fight, and had never known that both beat the living juices out of one another. Of course in the end the raccoon had won, but then again he'd caught Lewigi Pescadore off guard with his attack.

The villain was a large and an irritating crocodile that blabbed on during fights even when he was losing. He boasted constantly that he was the best, and couldn't resist starting a fight with the raccoon when he'd found him in disguise at a local bar. Though he was a crocodile, unlike Miss. Ruby, he actually was quite fit. (Burn on Mizz Ruby XD)

Cooper really had to be careful this battle however, the crocodile knew how to play cards, a rough game as well, and in the end he always had an extra up his slimy sleeve. The raccoon was not worried, if he was captured, he had a back-up plan for being rescued by his team, so might as well have fun with it.

All Sly really had to do was sneak in and grab the blueprints. It was kind of like a regular museum heist, and would be all too natural for the raccoon thief to complete in a matter of seconds. First of all however, he needed to wait for the guards to leave, which he could force the process along…

"What the…" A guard started to mumble until a large pipe, more so cane cracked over his head.

"Tony you alright…what the…"

BAM!

"No, Tony is not alright." Sylvester joked to himself in humor, "Now lets see about those keys…"

Bending over just slightly the raccoon fiddled in the pockets and sure enough found the keys. Sticking them in his pockets he turned towards the large mansion doors, and walked forwards. Just as his hand touched the door handle he took a deep breath, then he entered.

"Guards!" A loud voice boomed, "Get you worthless skins in here now!"

All the guards in the whole mansion ran into the room were their master had called. All were shaking in their boots, and all look petrified. Some clumsily held up their weapons, while others had tripped and gotten ran over by fellow guards on duty. Once they finally managed to line up they received a growl from the crocodile setting on a throne type chair in front of them all.

"You're all pathetic." He began rising from his chair and walking down the lines of scared looking wolf and vulture guards, "I expected better out of you. Tripping over your own feet? Dropping you weapons?"

Every guard held their breath wondering whom he was going to lash out at first. The victim happened to be the only one who talked, "How come?"

WHACK!

He fell to the ground holding his head that was now bleeding from the rings that had sliced into his skull. Whimpering he backed up into another line to escape being hit again but was pushed back into the leader who shot him a death glare, "Cooper." Slowly he turned away from the pitiful looking wolf guard and continued on the lines.

"It seems my little friend has decided to pay a visit, very soon in fact." The crocodile chuckled, "He found out about the blueprints through his partner, and has teamed up with William Felidae."

All the guards eyes widened, that was a match that couldn't very well be beaten. The Felidae were feared by most of them, they'd had their fathers beat up by the family in the past for criminal ways, though they'd also had the Coopers beat up their dads as well…both thieves proved to be very dangerous.

"When you see that wretched raccoon, and if you do, I want you to shoot him, tie him up, and throw him to my feet, were he belongs." All the men in the room let out laughs at the idea of a Cooper bound, even though he could easily kick the wits out of them, they'd like to see the sight.

"Now, the little fellow might not even show up…he might be to scared." The crocodile sniggered, "He might have gotten the upper hand when I was drunk, but this time that bastard doesn't stand a chance."

"Uh…sir?" The same guard who had been hit before raised a paw.

The boss's head craned sideways almost robotically and he snarled charging up to the guard and grabbing him by the collar, "What is your last words, before I murder you?" He pronounced vengefully.

"T-T-There's a raccoon!" He shrieked covering his face with his arms.

The boss who had his paw raised to cut the head off of the nervous wolf guard stopped before he hit the throat, "Were?" He demanded icily nose to nose with the guard.

"I…saw a shadow…and…it looked like a raccoon…actually…" The wolf gulped shaking like a leaf on a winter tree, "And there was…a question mark sort of thing in his hands sir."

The boss grinned ear to ear, "Oh Cooper, I wouldn't be so rash on your entering next time, if there is a next time for you…"

"Of course there will be a next time." Somebody within the crowd said in a quite suave and calmed voice, "Always another time to beat you up, and knock those teeth out of your 24/7 mouth."

Every guard's head swiveled to a simple guard in the middle of the room; the guard himself was looking bored and checking his nails as if not threatened by Lewigi at all. The crocodile's laughter boomed through the whole room echoing off the walls, "You're pretty dim aren't you, Cooper?"

"Why would that be?" The young man retorted, "I mean after all, I have the upper hand."

"Oh really?" The croc gave a grin and snapped his fingers, "Guards seize him."

The guards laughed and advanced towards the master thief. They all lounged at him at the same time, and began to tie him up in a knot of chains. The boss smirked evilly, "Bring him to me, now."

Gladly they brought the struggling young man and thrust him at the boss's feet. The crocodile lifted his chin and smiled, "You're about to see what getting beat up really means, Cooper."

"I am? Cause I'd say it's the other way around." A voice commented from behind the gator. As he jerked to see who had dared say that, and who'd claimed to be the prisoner paralyzed in fear in front of him, when he found himself stumbling backwards due to a heavy blow to the head.

All at once gas began to seep through the cracks of bricks, and make the guards wobble in their footsteps. Some yawned and then all at once, they all dropped were they stood. "Sleeping gas Cooper? I think you've missed the detail that I'm immune."

"You missed the detail of that being your own guard." Replied the shadow of the raccoon thief, "Tape recorders and duck-taping the mouths of your own guards proves to be your downfall…pitiful really."

"You have no idea were the blueprints are." Challenged the gator, "I hid them were not even you could…"

"I've already obtained those, as well as I burned them." The raccoon raised his eyebrows.

"That's…stupid! You imbecile!" Laughed the alligator, "Your nothing but a waste of life."

"I didn't say that I didn't take pictures of it, I just said I burnt them. Their safe Lewigi, with my gang in fact." Cooper replied with a snort.

"I expected this, I hope you know, and I set up a little surprise for you." Lewigi smirked turning from him, "You may have gotten what you came for, but I can guarantee you're going to wish you never set foot in here, raccoon.'

The raccoon found himself dangling from the ceiling by his feet and his arms chained together. His mouth was promptly gagged and he looked amused, "Nicely played." He muttered through the small fabric in his mouth, "However I'll escape in a matter of hours."

"Well then I'll be sure to make it the worst hours of your life." The crocodile hissed with a smirk still plastered on his face, "And I'll just let Felidae see what he'll get if he messes with me."

Snapping a picture of the tied up raccoon the crocodile handed it to a guard who had woken up, "Deliver this to Felidae."

One the guards cautiously grabbed the picture and ran off to fulfill his boss's wishes. Liwigi turned to Cooper with a grin. "You must already realize your seconds are numbered. For taking my blue prints from me, you will suffer the worst torture imaginable."

"Hold on. Before you do that, answer me something. Who gave you those prints? Better yet, why are they so important to you? If Clockwerk is rebuilt you realize that YOUR seconds will be numbered?" Sly asked with a look of confusion.

"Idiot Cooper. Clockwerk isn't being rebuilt. His designs are being used to make a new body for that idiot son of Arpeggio. The reason it's so important to me, is because I am being offered alot of money to guard it. Now that you've destroyed it, I'm going to thrash you for every penny lost." Liwigi said as he cracked his knuckles.

/

Meanwhile within the day in Moscow after being lectured to a long extent by Greg over the previous night's events, William was making his way across roof tops with great caution. He knew now that Rosalia was also in Russia, most likely because she managed to track him down. The fact that she was at Boris's party troubled William greatly, only because of the jealousy that gripped him the previous night. Why did he feel the need to upstage Boris? He wasn't one to jeopardize his mission for the sake of humiliating his enemy, as entertaining as it was.

The thought was broken as he heard Greg come on the com-link. _"Ok. Will, since you SCREWED UP last night's plan, we have to find someone that might be able to give us reliable information." _

"Alright, what's the plan then?" William asked with a frown.

"William." A voice called from behind him, and William stopped dead in his tracks. He sighed as he slowly turned to Rosalia who was standing on the same building he was. She was in her usual attire, but her pistol was at her side. She was not aiming her weapon towards him, and she seemed to be quite calm.

"Oho. You look tired. What were YOU up to last night?" William asked with a chuckle as he turned slowly.

"Don't play stupid. I know it was you I danced with last night." Rosalia murmured with a slight glare at him. William was prepared to run if this meeting turned ugly what so ever.

William smirked as he crossed his arms over his chest. "What's your point? Were you hoping for a second dance?" William asked with a raised eyebrow.

Rosalia shook her head, and removed several hairs from her face. "I'm going to make you a deal William. It seems as though you are after something Boris has. He's worth just a little bit less then you are on the bounty market, but still quite a sum. I know this might sound odd, but I wish to help you obtain what you desire if in turn help me acquire Boris." Rosalia murmured quietly. William was silent for a moment, and then he began to laugh.

"You really think I'm stupid? Why on earth would I trust you? Do you really think after one dance I'm going to be all nice to you?"

"Do you really want me to answer that William? Why on earth did you ask me to dance with you? Are you out of your mind?" Rosalia asked as she slowly approached him, her boots clicking against the concrete roofing of the building.

"Tell me something William. Why did you leave me all alone that night?" Rosalia murmured as she seemed to be calm, but William could tell the question had many years of anger behind it.

"Rose, is this really where you want to hear it? I mean honestly. Can't we be somewhere...better?" William asked, though he grew silent as Rosalia placed her hand on his cheek.

"Will. Shut up and tell me. You don't know how much anguish I've been through after that night. Put my mind at ease si vous plais." Rosalia said quietly, feeling the warmth of William's cheek.

William sighed, wondering if this was a trap or not. If it was, then he would be thrown in jail if not then he'd have to face a saddened or angry Rosalia. Truth be told, he'd rather take prison. "Rose, I never meant to leave you alone. Look at me. I'm a thief. My father was a thief. My grandfather was a thief."

Rosalia smirked as she gently stroked his cheek. "So you are telling me you left me alone at the prom because you were afraid I would get in trouble because of your family history? You really are dim mes amis. Very dim." Rosalia said quietly as she put her blaster down and wrapped both her arms around William. She pulled him into an embrace, burying her head into his neck.

"R-Rosalia. Wh-Why? What are you doing?" William asked, feeling her warmth move onto him.

"William, I saw how jealous you became last night. I could tell that part of your persona wasn't made up. You were enjoying the dance so much you even forgot to get back into character after we were done." Rosalia said as she let go of William.

William smiled and scratched the back of his head. "Well, you looked absolutely wonderful. How could I not be?" William asked. Rosalia smirked as she gave his cheek a pinch.

"That ball made up for you ditching me at prom. Now, I take it you have your own little group like the Coopers, no?" Rosalia asked with a raised eyebrow.

William hesitated before answering. "Yes. Just me and Greg though..." William murmured. Rosalia pushed her nose against his for a moment.

"Do you need anyone else? I am a very good ally to have." Rosalia said, her mouth inches from his.

"Ok, uhm, rule number one." William said pushing Rosalia back a bit. "If you wish to join, at least promise me you are not just doing this to get me on bounty. Promise me." William murmured.

Rosalia planted her lips on his cheek for a quick moment before whispering in his ear. "I promise William." Rosalia whispered.

"_Uh Will? We just got a fax."_

William cleared his throat after the kiss on the cheek he received. Rosalia always knew how to send chills down his spine be it the good or the bad kind. "Ye-Yes Greg? What was sent over?" William asked quietly.

"_Cooper is in trouble." _


	9. Chapter 9: A Daring Rescue

**Chapter 9: A Daring Rescue**

Panting the raccoon's eyes drifted upwards to meet the blue pleased eyes of Lewigi. Gulping he struggled against the bonds, this was not turning out as planned, and for once in his life he was actually getting the brains beat right out of him. Hanging upside-down hurt even worse, all the blood was pouring out quicker.

He didn't know what had happened to his gang, and at this point he hoped they were okay. The raccoon didn't want his gang to face this sort of thing, and didn't really care if he had to take all their torture for them, he would. He'd taken worse blows.

The raccoon glared at the crocodile, "To bad this is the only way you can beat me."

This earned the raccoon a punch to the side of the head, to which he gasped in pain. The gator sniggered in pleasure and lifted the raccoon's chin to meet his eyes. Cooper tried to jerk his face away; in reply the muscle bound crocodile punched him once again.

"Look at me, Cooper." He demanded holding his prisoner's face to where he had to look into his amused eyes. The caramel eyes glared into his soul, but his blue eyes were sure to make an impact of fear in the rebellious raccoon's soul in return.

"You're a coward." Sly coughed up blood that had bubbled in his throat. The blood dripped down the sides of his face, and down his bare chest. His shirt was now rags, his mask had been thrown to the floor as well as his cane, and all that remained were his shoes and his black pants.

The crocodile shook his head, "No back talking." With that he punched the young raccoon as hard as he could in the stomach.

Cooper had to fight every urge to throw up his blood as the punch took everything out of him. His head hung limply instead of trying to look up, and this gave the croc an opportunity to hold his face once again and torment him with the fact that he was a prisoner, "Cooper, I'm sure nobody is going to help you, but if they did, I'll make sure to treat them with the same respect."

"You don't touch any of them!" Sly yelled wildly becoming defensive, but was punched once again in the chest. The raccoon growled and bit back the desire to scream.

"Even Felidae?" Lewigi questioned curiously.

"If you even think about lying a claw on him I'll make sure it's the last thing you ever think." The raccoon threatened before he was punched across the face.

"This is fun." The crocodile commented, "But I grow bored of the same things…how about we add a little entertainment to somebody else's life, what do you say Cooper?"

"Go to hell." The raccoon snarled as he was once again hit with a punch.

"What if I told you, you were being watched?" The crocodile asked with a sneer, "Not that anybody seems to care."

"I don't care who's watching, I'll get out of this and tie you to the ceiling you coward!" Sly shouted before once again receiving a hard hit in the stomach. The raccoon fell limp again, and started to pant harder.

"You just never learn." Lewigi sighed, "I can do this all night. And I am."

William walked into the hideout along with Rosalia. This caused his genius friend to jump in his seat and scream. The cat rolled his eyes at the bats reaction, "She's fine, now what's wrong with Cooper?"

"What do you mean she's fine? She's a bounty hunter, on your case! She has a shock pistol Will!" Greg yelled angry that he wasn't told anything about this ally.

"We can trust her, Greg, I promise." The cat bowed his head and put a hand on his heart, "What's wrong with Cooper?"

"Well…guards from Venice sent me this…" The bat replied clicking up a full blown picture.

It showed non-other than Sly Cooper dangling upside-down. His legs were chained together, as were his arms, and he looked to have had a gag before. There was blood dripping from the corners of his mouth, and blood in various places all over him. All that was left on him were his black pants, and rags of his once shirt. His eyes were narrowed at whoever had taken the picture and looked murderous.

William's mouth opened a little, "What happened!"

"Well Cooper had a back up plan that if he got captured that his gang would come get him… This had to be necessary for the fact there was no way to get out of the hideout without being caught, even the vents. So he got caught, and unfortunately his gang hasn't had signal. I can't contact them, and there's nobody to help him…" The bat mumbled all of this disturbed by the image, "The psycho had been sending photos from the beginning to this one…"

Suddenly the screen blinked saying, 'message: 1'

The bat opened it and it began to play live of what was happening.

"You're a coward." Sly coughed up blood, it dripped down the sides of the already stained red fur on his face.

The crocodile shook his head, "No back talking." With that he punched the young raccoon as hard as he could in the stomach. The Cooper gasped and he became limp still hanging.

"This is sick…" Rosalia said as she let a hand cover her mouth.

"Cooper's not looking good, Will." Greg gulped watching on with the couple leaning over him to watch the computer screen.

The crocodile grabbed the raccoon's chin roughly, "Cooper, I'm sure nobody is going to help you, but if they did, I'll make sure to treat them with the same respect."

"You don't touch any of them!" Sly yelled wildly before he was punched in the chest, and the crocs claws were also out as he did this, making a large gash.

Will's eyes narrowed in disgust at the alligator, but listened on for any information on where they were.

"Even Felidae?" Lewigi questioned curiously as he watched the raccoon pant from pain.

"If you even think about lying a claw on him I'll make sure it's the last thing you ever think." The raccoon threatened. The crocodile smirked and landed a punch across the young raccoon's face.

This made William confused. The raccoon had acted like he didn't even care, and here he was taking a punch across the face just to get the point across that Will would not be hurt.

"This is fun." The crocodile commented, "But I grow bored of the same things…how about we add a little entertainment to somebody else's life, what do you say Cooper?"

"Go to hell." The raccoon snarled as he was once again hit with a punch.

"This Lewigi should be in a psycho ward…" Greg mumbled angrily to himself. He hadn't got to know Cooper to well, but he didn't like to watch people get hurt period.

Rosalia looked to William for a moment. "Are the Felidae and the Coopers not enemies?" Rosalia asked as she crossed her arms over her chest.

William was silent for a moment then he looked to Greg. His eyes narrowed. "We are going to Venice." William stated in a bold tone. Greg adjusted his goggles for a moment and coughed.

"Uhm, What?" Greg asked with a frown.

"We are going to Venice Greg. I'm not letting this lunatic kill Cooper. He may be a shifty fool, but he does not deserve to go out like that." William said as stroked his own chin.

"You are honestly SUGGESTING, that we abort our mission here and go to Venice?" Greg asked with a look of confusion.

"Oh yeah. Greg, can you give me the latest little gadget you've been going on about?" William asked. Greg was even MORE confused now. William was never usually interested in the technology that he came up with.

His latest little invention was an electronic overpower device, similar to the EMP used by militaries across the globe. It disabled electronics for a fixed amount of time, and was trigger activated.

Greg went to his work desk and brought the metal basketball sized device into the living room.

"Activate it. Now." William ordered quietly.

Greg nodded and pressed the button on the top of the device that activated it. It made a low humming noise for an instant and shook. Seconds after, Rosalia got a blank stare on her face and tumbled to the floor. "I knew it." William murmured.

Greg was extremely freaked out. "W-Will! What the hell! Is she ok! What's going on!" Greg asked, panicking. "WHAT HAVE I DONE!" Greg said shaking his hands melodramatically.

William chuckled. "No worries Greg. This isn't really Rosalia." William said leaning down beside the imposter. He pulled her cheek, and tore off the latex face of whom he figured out was not the real Rosalia. Beneath the latex mask was a complex looking metal face.

"W-What on earth!" Greg said with his eyes as wide as discs.

"When she embraced me, I could tell she wasn't Rosalia. She didn't wear the same perfume that Rosalia always wears. Also, her grip was a bit rough when she embraced me." William said rubbing his ribs.

Greg began to understand, but he did not know why someone would want to build a robot just to go after Will.

"Made by the labs of whoever is actually building Clockwork I'm guessing. If you can reprogram it, then we got our third member." William said with a smirk. Greg rubbed his eyes under his goggles for a moment.

"Will. Sometimes you make me want to turn myself into the police. There would be far less trouble in there." Greg murmured as he took a look at the disabled android like being on the floor.

"Oh come on. I know you are totally going to love undressing it." William said with a wink as he made for the door.

"Will! I am a gentleman!" Greg shouted after him.

"That's not what your browser history proves. See ya later Greg. Gonna go save Cooper's ring tail." William pointed out as he left.

Travelling to Venice was alot of trouble for William, as he had to find some excess cash in his bank to buy the tickets on such short notice. The flight didn't take that long, and the service was great. It was probably because most of the stewardesses were adorable and young, that William enjoyed the flight so much.

Once he had landed, William didn't even bother making up a hide out. Hell, he hadn't even packed anything as all he wanted to do was free Cooper, defeat this alligator guy, and go back to his own assignment.

The moon shone on his sleek black fur as he looked around the streets of Venice. "Now where could they be." William murmured quietly as he gazed at several questionable goons walking the streets. They were crocs as William could see. He put two and two together and began to follow the crocs down the street.

"You know, sometimes the boss goes WAY over board. What will he gain from tempting that stupid cat to come save his buddy?" One of the crocs pointed out.

"Eh. I dunno. Boss has been just waiting to beat Cooper up for so long. I guess he's going to savour it."

William listened in on their conversation, taking from it what he needed. He followed them more until they got towards a rather large compound. It looked like a huge warehouse. It required a punch in code to get in, and Will knew if he stood that close he would be found out quickly.

"Alright. Hope you brought a clean shirt today. Lots of clean up." One of the crocs said with a snort.

The door was about to slam shut again, but Will quickly and sneakily made his way through it before it closed. He looked around the dark warehouse, then continued to follow the crocs in case anything else was secured and he needed to get through.

There were sounds of impact nearby, which told Will that he was probably nearing where he needed to go. If he could get alone with this Liwigi then perhaps he could also get some answers on who was actually endorsing this little Clockwork project. It was obvious that they knew who he was, to send an imitation Rosalia after him.

One of the crocs turned slowly and spotted William. "W-What is that!" The croc snarled as he pulled out a tazor stick. The other croc did the same and William sighed.

"Oh my. Ok boys. Let me tell you something first. You can put away those weapons, and we can both walk away with our teeth intact. If not, well, you get the idea." William said with a grin as he activated his night vision goggles.

The croc laughed. "What's a stupid little cat gonna do? You think we're afraid of you!" The first croc said as he ran with the stick, and thrust it towards William. William, of course, manoeuvred around the thrust and jabbed the Croc in the stomach. The croc dropped his weapon and William casually used his tail to grab the handle and flip it into his own hand.

"Why you!" The other croc snarled as he began hammer William's stick with his own.

"Pretty sure that's NOT how you use it." William pointed out as he tazed the croc several times before pushing him back. The other croc began to use his own fists for the fight rather than the stick that was stolen from him.

William was quick to react to some of the blows, but several of them landed on him. He was pretty sure something was damaged inside him as breathing became difficult. "You are dead cat! Hah!" The croc said as he caught Will of guard and landed a punch in his face, blacking him out.

When William woke up, he felt as though he was in a dark room. His wrist device had been taken from him, along with his goggles.

"Welcome to the party. You know what they say right? Curiosity killed the cat." Liwigi said as he stepped from the darkness.

William now realized where he was. "Well." William said as he looked over to the unconscious Sly that was tied up as he was. "This really sucks, doesn't it?" William murmured.

"Oh my little feline friend. You do not know what's in store for you. Both your families have humiliated me. Your father humiliated me in front of many of my partners."

"Well, I wish I could say I feel sorry for you, boss." William said with sarcasm dripping from his words.

"Hah. You didn't even know your father did you? I heard he abandoned his one and only son quite some time ago. Are you really the son of Sebastian Felidae?" Liwigi stated with a snort.

"Well, never knew his name. Thanks for letting me know though. Oh, by the way. I don't see how my father plays any role in this right now. I am a totally different person from him." William pointed out with a smirk. That earned him a punch straight in the gut, that left him breathless for a short moment of time.

"You may have not met your father, but I assure you, you are one and the same. Both of you are arrogant scum, waltzing into my business like it's a walk in the park. You insult my security, my honor, and my intelligence."

"I'd like to say I do, but you are pretty much doing that yourself. Look in a mirror once in a while, and go pick up what we call in this century, a tooth brush." William spat bitterly. He received another punch in the stomach.

"It really irritates me how arrogant you are. I guess you will die the same way as your father. I'll make sure you die slowly though, so you can suffer a bit more than he did." Liwigi growled as he picked up one of the tazor sticks from a table nearby.


	10. Chapter 10: An Even More Daring Rescue

Chapter 10: A More Daring Rescue

Lewigi had, after two hours of beating, left Felidae, and the unconscious Sly Cooper alone. The cat moaned in pain as he struggled with the tight bonds. Apparently they were made to keep thieves tied up, and for as long as the captor wanted.

The Felidae was displeased he'd been caught so easily, but what could be expected from somebody who was tired, and had to deal with agents following him around? Surely the cat deserved some sort of reward for going without coffee.

The raccoon thief dangling next to him looked more pained than him at the moment, even knocked out. The cat couldn't fathom why the thief had taken a punch for just the sake of defending the cat's honor. It was strange to have a rival/friend who cared so much; he always just had Greg for that sort of thing.

Cooper had endured a lot, and so had he, he hoped that the raccoon wasn't dead. He could tell he was alive for now, by the small breathing his sensitive ears indicated that were coming from the heaving chest of Sly Cooper himself.

Not only did he need to worry about Cooper, but he was also worried about himself at this point. His body wasn't used to enduring this sort of agonizing pain. His thoughts were even hurting him at this point, making him picture his own death taking place.

Sighing, William tried to get comfortable, he needed some sleep at least. Before he could even close his eyes, he heard a small groan. His eyes flickered over to Cooper who'd finally opened his eyes; he looked out of it, and possibly had a concussion.

"Will?" He murmured, sounding like a drunken man.

"Cooper, are you alright?" He asked instead of being sarcastic as usual.

"…I don't know." The raccoon chuckled, which ended in a small whimper of agony. The cat understood why it hurt, the raccoon was soaked in blood, his OWN blood. They needed to get out of there and find the thief medical help.

"**, he got you good." William replied studying his appearance, "Look, can you try to get out? Your ropes look loose already."

"Why did you come here?" He asked in a whisper, "I could've gotten out myself." The brown caramel eyes curved in confusion.

"He was going to kill you, Cooper." The cat gave a sigh, "Honestly I was worried, okay? Now shut up, and try to get out of the bonds."

"I feel so loved." The raccoon replied sarcastically.

William grinned and motioned with his head for the raccoon to get out of the ropes. Silently the thief began jerking back and forth his somewhat broken ropes, and all at once it snapped, without warning for Sly, and he crashed into the floor.

This of course alerted guards, but not before the raccoon cloaked himself. The crocs rushed in and searched for the raccoon, and ended up getting struck over the head with the cane that Cooper had recovered off of the ground.

Felidae smirked, "Nice work now get me…"

Before he could utter another word, Lewigi had entered quickly, and now had Cooper sprawled out of the ground shaking violently. The raccoon yelped at the electricity, and his eyes closed instantly as he shook.

William growled and started to work on his ropes while the raccoon was being shocked. With an echoing snap he'd released himself from his containment in mere moments, and was now on his feet. Lewigi hadn't noticed, that is…until he felt a down kick come to his head.

Cooper rose to his feet hesitantly, but Felidae gently pushed him back to the ground, "If you take another hit your going to die idiot, sit down, and watch the show." The cat smirked before turning to face the alligator.

"This should be easy as pie." The alligator snickered, "All I have to do is attack Cooper, and you'll be vulnerable. Which reminds me, why try to save a scum like him?"

The raccoon behind Felidae shot a glare but remained silent, obviously wanting to know why the cat wanted to save a foe, when he could just cut his losses and leave. "Hah. You throw that word around like you made it up. Well, the only scum here is you my friend. Beating on two fellow thieves? Where's your honor? Where's your pride?"

Liwigi growled as he prepared to attack the cat once more. "Honor and Pride. A Felidae is speaking to me of honor and pride. How about you go look up how your father died, or rather why then utter those words. Better yet, I won't let you." The gator murmured. He looked to Sly for a moment.

"The raccoon's almost dead." The gator pointed out, "You could kill him, and take the glory. He's nothing, you're the one with all the skill, put him out of his misery."

The cat got a sudden wicked look on his face and turned slowly to meet Cooper's gaze. Master thief or not, the cats gaze made the raccoon's heart almost stop beating in his chest, "He's right." Felidae quirked with an evil grin as he advanced towards the raccoon that back peddled.

"F-Felidae what are you doing?" He asked a sure under tone of fear rising as the cat got closer.

"Just kidding." The cat laughed before spinning around and knocking the unsuspecting gator off his feet, and onto the ground.

"Whew…" His companion replied from the floor, "You scared the heck out of me Felidae."

"Please, all it takes to scare you is the word boo." The cat chuckled as he began to dodge punches from the alligator.

The gator grinned evilly, "I may not be able to kill you, but I sure as in hell can kill Cooper."

Lewigi charged towards the raccoon thief, who raccoon rolled away. Sneering he ran after the raccoon who was barley able to move or dodge punches. Felidae intervened and punched the gang member straight in the jaw, knocking out multiple teeth.

Regaining his senses for a split second the alligator whirled around to see the cat once again pushing the raccoon to safety. Popping his knuckles and cracking his neck, he gave a full toothed grin (Well with the teeth he had left…XD) and this time charged at both thieves.

Cooper was sent air-born into the brick wall, and Felidae was sent in the opposite direction. The raccoon grabbed his head and blinked furiously, "Felidae, I can't see!" He yelled desperately as he heard footsteps coming towards him.

The raccoon was lifted up by the neck, "All you would see is my fist." Replied Lewigi with a snarl before rearing back a fist and sending directly into the Cooper's face.

After the raccoon inhaled a sharp breath he struggled to his feet, still unable to barley see, and rushed over to were he could see a mob of blackened fur. The Felidae was unconscious, so the raccoon shook his shoulders even as the alligator approached from behind. This roused William to consciousness but he didn't have any time to say anything.

He grabbed both thieves by the necks and held them against the wall. "Now, to put an end to the Cooper and Felidae, for good!" The alligator laughed; he began to squeeze as hard as he could on their necks.

The raccoon began to cough while William began to wheeze. Cooper wrapped his hands around the alligator's hands, and pulled it away with what little strength he had left. Then with a growl he kicked the giant backwards with his legs.

Felidae gasped for air and watched as the alligator reared back before charging at his weakened form. Before he could strike out with one of his claws however, Cooper jumped in front of him acting as a shield.

The cat's eyes widened as he watched the raccoon drop lifelessly to the ground like a rag doll. William frowned slightly as his hands shook for a moment.

"Heh! As I've said before, like father like so-" Before the Gator could finish Will had landed a punch in his gut, and head butt him in the chest.

"You are a miserable piece of work." William murmured grimly as he continued his assault on the gator. The gator coughed and fell to his knees. He looked up to William with fear in his eyes.

"Y-You can't kill me! Your precious book does not let you! Only steal, and never harm! Remember?" Liwigi pointed out. William looked to Cooper, realizing that Cooper was breathing.

"You are right Liwigi. Heh." William said as he slammed his fists down onto the gator's head, knocking him out instantly.

William made his way over to Cooper's sleeping form and slowly helped him up. "Felidae, why?" Sly murmured in pain.

"I told you, I don't hold grudges. Besides, if you go who will help me take down Clockwerk if he is rebuilt?" William pointed out with a chuckle as he began to drag his friend out of the compound.

/

Carmelita growled as she gazed at all the blood on the floor, and the unconscious Liwigi who was being put in cuffs by other Interpol officers. "We got a match for the blood. Cooper and Felidae." A forensics expert said as he came into the room as well.

"Felidae and Cooper took down Liwigi? Seems odd. I read both the records on their families. They are sworn enemies." Carmelita murmured as she looked towards the two Interpol officers taking Liwigi out of the room.

"When he wakes up, give him some pain killers and ask him as many questions as he can answer. I want to know what happened and over WHAT" Carmelita shouted.

"Treating your men with such rough brutality. Perhaps that is why you can't be with Cooper, N'est pas?" A voice said from the shadows. Carmelita growled as she turned slowly.

"You are one to talk. Heard you were dancing with a renown criminal? Your taste in men is questionable." Carmelita murmured as Rosalia walked onto the scene.

"I got what I needed from him, as dirty as it may sound." Rosalia said with a slight giggle.

"There's a word for what you are, but I don't think it's lady like to say it. Why are you here?" Carmelita asked with a frown.

"Same thing you are here for. I'm looking for my cash cow, Mr. Felidae." Rosalia murmured as she swayed her hips slightly and placed her hands on her hips.

"I'm not after Felidae. Cooper is what I'm after. Though I guess jailing Felidae would probably lose you that money wouldn't it?" Carmelita said with a dark grin.

"Oh, don't worry. I'll get my money. Now, what do we know about the scene?" Rosalia asked as she gazed at everything.

"Plenty of blood from Felidae and Cooper. I'm guessing they left with great injuries. One that only a hospital could tend to. Perhaps if we go to a local hospital we will find what we are looking for." Carmelita murmured.

"I guess that is correct. I'm guessing you won't give me a lift?" Rosalia asked as she gazed at her nails.

Carmelita rolled her eyes. "You can ride in the back or the trunk. Your choice." Carmelita said as she began to leave the scene.

"Oh. I don't get to ride shotgun? That is upsetting." Rosalia said with heavy sarcasm as she followed after Carmelita.


	11. Chapter 11: A Friend in Need

Felidae lugged the unconscious raccoon over his shoulder, while trying to find a hospital. The thieves both had taken some horrible blows, and he couldn't leave Cooper in the simple care of his gang, he'd die within hours…after what that raccoon had done for him, the cat felt different about him.

He figured the raccoon had just said he would protect Felidae on the camera link because he wanted to be saved. However several things proved that theory wrong; 1, the raccoon had questioned why he'd come, and insisted he could have saved himself, 2 he'd taken a claw strike in the stomach, a nasty blow at that, risking his life.

William wasn't used to having somebody do things for him, and what the Cooper did was more than just simple favor. The cat could have died; no…he would have died if that Cooper hadn't jumped in front of him. At the same time, the raccoon could have died as well, and listening to the small groans on his back, he figured that he was indeed close to death.

The cat knew all to well that the hospital is were the cops would look, but Cooper, and himself needed serious medical care. NOW. The raccoon was still bleeding, even more so from the gash in his stomach. Will was pretty sure he'd broken some internal organs, and had a sprain or two.

"Will, you can put me down." The voice of Sly floated into his ears, making his thoughts go away.

"Cooper, you can't walk, just lay down, and rest." Will commanded holding the raccoon tighter just in case he tried to fight him.

"Felidae, I'm fine." The raccoon insisted, "I didn't get hurt that bad…plus, we should probably go to different hospitals just in case our little stalkers show up."

William chuckled and Cooper coughed as William slowly made his way across a roof top. "Arguing with me is a lot more time consuming then you'd think Cooper."

A sigh met him as a reply. For a while things were quiet and the cat was pretty sure that the hospital was close. That's when he began to realize that Cooper didn't really know what he'd done, or at least the extent of it. "Hey, Cooper." He began, making sure his companion was actually awake.

"Yeah, cat?" A yawning sort of voice replied.

"You could have killed yourself trying to save me." The Felidae said quietly, "Why did you, exactly?"

"To be completely honest, I don't want to be enemies…and even if we aren't friends, if we aren't, I still didn't want you to get hurt…you're a good man, world needs more people like that." Cooper replied suddenly jerking in pain and sucking his teeth.

"We're friends." The Felidae replied with a chuckle, "Anybody who stands up for me like that is a friend."

The raccoon didn't reply, which caused the cat to wonder if he'd passed out. Turning the raccoon over to hold in his arms, seeing as how his shoulders were in a lot of pain, he noticed the thief had indeed fallen unconscious, "Alright then, get sleep." The cat replied with sarcasm.

The hospital was ahead, and soon enough they were inside.

Doctors rushed to the two, and one grabbed the raccoon directly out of Will's arms, rushing him to a part of the hospital. It sort of troubled William that maybe Cooper was TOO hurt, and wouldn't make it. He dismissed the thought knowing that crazy thieves survive.

Nurses huddled closely to him, much to his pleasure, and ushered him into a hospital room. Though to his displeasure, they injected him to make him fall unconscious…he was now vulnerable if the cops showed up, and so was Cooper…

Will's eyes flicked open two hours later as he calculated by the clock. Immediately he sat straight up, his displeasure once again, Rosalia sat calmly in a chair in his hospital room. Her bright eyes showed through the dim lit room, and made the cat shiver.

"Don't worry, you're not the only one with a guest." She smirked, "Carmelita is sure to be getting her precious ringtail to jail right about now…only because I'm here of course."

Will despite himself managed a smirk, "You realize I can easily escape."

"I don't see how, Felidae." She sneered with a evil grin coming onto her features, "I know you wouldn't leave your little pal behind, and he's just past me."

"Who says he's my pal?" Felidae lied awaiting an answer.

"That's not what our prisoner, Lewigi said once we got him to actually talk." Rosalia rolled her eyes, "He said that Cooper jumped out in front of you, and took a hit…makes you wonder why Carmelita can't catch the idiot, him being so reckless."

"Did he say anything else?" Felidae asked curiously.

"Now why would I tell you Felidae? The only reason I haven't started blasting you yet, is because we're in a public setting, once I get you outside your toast." The bounty hunter replied with a challenging grin.

Will didn't say anything else and just simply waited. After a long period of time, his quiet game had caused the bounty hunter to grow bored. The husky's head tilted to the side and she began to drool slightly as she slept.

William smiled and quietly slinked out of bed and towards the window. Then he remembered he still was in hospital garb; trailing back he grabbed his clothes. He quickly got changed in the bathroom, and folded the garb neatly. He placed it neatly folded on Rosalia's lap before slowly making his way to the window. With one last grin towards the slumbering bounty hunter he hopped onto the windowsill and began to sneak, with his back against the wall, to Cooper's room.

Carmelita wasn't there. 'Probably left…' Will thought to himself before opening the window.

Cooper was limp in the bed and he looked pretty drugged up. There was blood in various places, due to the surgery. The cat thief snuck over to the bed and saw the brown eyes of the thief were wide open. He waved a hand in front of them and the raccoon winced, "Will…" His voice seemed frail and weak, "How'd your surgery go?"

"Brilliant." The cat chuckled, "We need to get out of here before the cops catch wind."

"I can't." Cooper muttered, "You need to go, I'll find a way to escape, we both can't get captured."

The cat blinked in surprise, "I can't leave you here." The thief rested his hand on the raccoon's shoulder, "Don't make a fuss, Cooper, nobody's going to get captured, including you."

"Cat, I'm worthless to the mission." The raccoon argued, "I'm injured badly, plus lets not forget my constant idiocy of emotions." Rolling his eyes he shrugged the cat's hand of his shoulder and let out a groan of pain, "Just leave."

"Cooper, you are talking with the wrong guy when it comes to emotions. Just get your butt out of this bed before I send you right back to the ER room." William said with a grin.

The raccoon thief shook his head, "You can't order me around. I'm staying. I can't help any ways, and if I did come it would only cause trouble. Just cut your losses and leave."

Williams let out a long sigh, "There's nothing I can do to change your mind?"

"No." Cooper replied settling himself back into the bed, "Carmelita is going to be coming back soon, leave."

"Cooper." William shook his head, "Why are you doing this? You're a thief! Thieves don't just give up, thieves like you, master thieves, don't give up. You're just rolling over and dieing because of a girl? I don't understand this stupid nonsense! I may tease you about your profession, but none of it's true, you're an amazing thief. I've seen you in action. Why are you going to do this to yourself? We need you for this mission!"

"Leave Will." The raccoon replied.

The cat's ears flattened against his skull in thought and silently the thief began to make his way to the window. Cooper began to cough from behind him, and the cat turned back quickly startled. The raccoon held his heart in pain and leaned forwards trying to get rid of said pain. The coughing itself sounded like it hurt, and the thief was panting now. Felidae wondered closer and put a hand on his back.

"Are those doctors even giving pain medication?" Will asked with a bored expression.

"I'm a thief, Will, they only can help me to a certain point, and only care to a certain point." Cooper replied suddenly clutching his chest with a growl.

"That won't do buddy. Don't worry, I'll handle it." The feline murmured as he cracked his knuckles.

Will glared towards the door were he was sure doctors were. He quickly made his way towards the door. He put up the hood of his cloak and gently knocked. One of the doctors opened it, a cocker spaniel. Will grabbed him by the collar of his doctor's clothing and dragging him into the room.

"Help him, now." The cat demanded pointing to the raccoon on the bed, "You're a doctor, your not letting him die, no help him, now."

The canine began to shake and quickly worked on getting needles. His colleagues obviously hadn't noticed that he was gone, and nobody came in the room. Walking up to the raccoon's limp form he turned his hand over and poked him in the wrist multiple times.

"That should help with the pain, he'll be fine in about two days." The doctor gulped moving towards the door.

"One question, where is the sedatives doc?" William asked curiously as he blocked the door.

"In that cabinet." He pointed towards one of the brown cabinets in the room.

"Okay then, good night." The cat replied politely before punching him straight in the face, "Sorry…but I can't have you ratting us out doctor."

"Will what are you doing?" Cooper asked sounding like the drugs had sunk into his voice making it sort of slurred.

The master thief turned towards the raccoon after returning from the cabinet with a needle in hand, "Your coming whether you like it or not, sorry Cooper."

"Felidae don't you…" The cat struck him in the wrist, which made the raccoon immediately sink into the mattress and to fall completely, and utterly limp. Felidae hoisted his crime partner out of the hospital bed and onto his shoulder, but Cooper struggled even under the influence of sedative.

"Cooper stay still." He demanded clasping the thrashing raccoon harder.

"Felidae put me down." The thief ordered his voice cracking somewhat from pain he still felt, "You can't just drag me around like a doll! Put me down now!"

"No." William replied trying to hold onto the raccoon who was proving that even through his pain he could fight with the best of them. "Cooper, you are not staying here, now stop struggling!"

"Felidae I can make my own decisions, put me down! Will I would only cause problems. Everything I do turns into a mistake. Please, just put me down and get to work on getting those blueprints." The raccoon said starting to struggle less from the sedative kicking in.

"Freeze Felidae!" Carmelita said as she broke open the door with a kick of her boot.

From the next room there was a loud growl and scream as well. "Oh. Crap." William murmured as he looked back to Carmelita who had pulled out her shock blaster.

"It is not right for you to take him Felidae. He will die in your care. Just leave him here, and let the doctors take care of him." Carmelita stated boldly. Her voice quivered which indicated that she was not in cop mode right now. She was merely worried for Sly's well being.

William frowned as he gazed from Carmelita to the Raccoon slung over his shoulder. It seemed as though this was the right thing to do.

Within seconds Carmelita was pushed out of the way and Rosalia came into the room her gorgeous eyes fixed in a glare towards William. She threw his garb down onto the floor and pulled the trigger on her own shock pistol.

"I'm sorry Cooper. I'll get you back. As soon as I can." William grunted as he took the shock of the first blast. He dropped Cooper elegantly on the bed before turning and jumping out the open window.

Carmelita let out a sigh of relief, but she glared towards Rosalia. "You are a real mental case Rosalia."

"Oh shove one of your man size boots in it!" Rosalia snapped as she quickly ran through the room and out the window in pursuit of Felidae.

Carmelita slowly made her way towards Sly after putting her blaster back in its holster. She gently fixed him onto the bed so he was comfortable and then sat by his bed once more to wait for him to awaken.


	12. Chapter 12: Will be Nimble

**Author's Note: I have got ALOT of explaining to do! Well, I got a job, got into university and pretty much let everyone down by never updating this fanfic! I don't even know if Slylady comes on anymore, but I've pmed her about continuing this with me! I apologize for the long wait, and hope that I can post many more chapters to make up for it! Enjoy reading, and be sure to leave a review! **

Will be Nimble, Will be Quick

The night air whipped around his face as the cat ran quickly from roof top to roof top. Occasionally he'd balance himself along a clothesline to get to another roof top. William already knew that he was still being pursued, as Rosalia was not one to relent on a chase. He was still injured from the encounter with Luigi, and thus his most of his physical attributes like his stamina and agility were lacking.

"Why do you run, fool?! Why don't you just turn yourself in and make me rich!?" Rosalia called behind him as she followed after him. Luckily, she had a fully charged interpol shock blaster on her person, but she didn't even think she needed it at this point. She was pretty sure that the bounty could only be collected if Felidae was brought in alive, so she couldn't risk using the shock blaster to capture the already weakened perpetrator.

William stopped running for a moment as he hid behind a massive ventilation fan that was giving off white steam. He pressed a few buttons on his communicator along his wrist multi-tool device. "Come on damn it! I need you Greg..." William growled in a hushed whisper.

"What is it you say? Boo?" Rosalia growled from above as she dropped in front of William. Her blue eyes were locked onto him with great malice.

William sighed as he slumped down onto bottom and grabbed at his left side. "Well, not much I can do now, hm?" William asked quietly.

"Oho. Giving up, after all this time? That's not like you, William." Rosalia mused with a smirk as she lowered herself to his level. She pinched his cheek roughly.

"You look so disappointed. D'awh. Did you think you'd get away?" She mused in a baby-coo voice, trying to mock the fallen thief.

William raised his eyes to hers, and there seemed to be a different look in them. His facial expression changed as well, to one of an almost emotionally blank state. Rosalia raised her eyebrows in response to this strange change of her bounty's disposition.

"What's with the face, cat?" Rosalia growled, a hint of curiosity hiding between the malice in her tone.

"Simple. All those stupid puns, the jibes, me harassing Cooper, me making friends...being with you...all of it was a show." William said quietly. "Truth is, that's how we were trained. We wear many faces, and speak through many voices." he mused as he slowly stood, still clutching at his side. He lowered his hood to reveal his black furred head. His eyes looked tired, but quite different than Rosalia was used to seeing.

"Why are you telling me this? What do I care? I'm bringing you in! Now turn around, and prepare to be cuffed."

"I think you should know, because I really did care about you." William explained as he turned to be cuffed. "And I did what I did to those girls to make you happy. My connection to you might've been the only genuine one I had all my life."

Rosalia growled as she tried to ignore his ramblings. It was hard not to, as prom night had completely altered who she was and how she felt about herself. She didn't let others put her down or walk all over her after that night, and she moved up to where she was today because of the incident. The husky clicked the cuffs tight on the Felidae's wrists.

"You really think you are going to talk your way out of this, don't you, idiot? I don't care what happened that night, and I don't care about any garbage you are spilling. You can put on your act, but I won't swallow it!" She snarled as she got out her cell phone, and began dialing Interpol's number so they can come pick Feliade up.

"I'm not acting right now. This is the first time I've stopped acting since I was a kid. Thieves need to act to get what they need. You act nice, you get nice things, right? Allying myself with Cooper and using that horrible routine of mine to trick his group into things much bigger than them..."

"What are you blathering on about? Interpol is on its way, so you better get this trash out now, or it'll only incriminate you more." Rosalia said with another roll of her blue eyes.

"I know who is building the clockwork model that's going to change the world as we know it. He's a member of a group of a secret society of thieves. My father was a part of it, and my family have been leaders for it for centuries. We were wealth distributors among all else." William explained silently as he turned, leaning against the ventilation fan again.

Rosalia seemed to be curiously listening at this point. "Go on." she murmured, crossing her arms over her chest.

"They each wear a ring. I threw mine into a fire not too long ago when I realized how corrupt it had become without my father. I learned that his disappearance was related to a power-play in the thieves' society. The one that leads it now is the one that is hoping to construct Clockwork again." William explained.

"Fascinating ~ Now, can you please shut up? I'm still not buying it." Rosalia mused with a wave of her hand in dismissal of what William was saying.

"Do you think I'm lying, Rosalia?" William asked as he got closer to her. The husky knew that she was in a risky position, but for one reason or another she didn't mind that William was the one getting closer.

"O-of course I do, you stupid cat. You are a criminal." she responded, a look of nervousness on her face.

"You know, I would've loved to have seen you at prom."

"Shut up." she warned.

"I bet you were beautiful."

"Watch your mouth, cat!" she warned as she reached for her pistol. William quickly jumped and moved his hand cuffed hands from behind him by moving them below his legs whilst he was in the air. He then gripped her shock pistol before she could and set it to stun. It was difficult to be so agile with his injuries and the cuffs, but he was a master thief.

"I knew you were just trying to buy time! I knew it! Drop the pistol, now!" she snapped angrily, getting ready to reach for her back up.

"I wasn't lying. What me and Cooper have to do is way too important for me to get locked up." William said silently.

"So what, you are going to manipulate all these people to help you get rid of this guy you claim is going to destroy the world? I thought thieves were all about taking, not saving the day." Rosalia said with a snort as she reconsidered blasting William.

The cat closed his eyes for a moment and let out a sigh. "You know, I could kill you, and be done with this silly crap right now. I don't have time to be eluding you, and trying to destroy those blue prints at the same time." he pointed out, as he considered putting the blaster from stun to kill.

Rosalia's eyes fixed on his. "You and I both know you won't. You said it yourself. Our connection was the only real one you ever had."

"You're right. I guess I can't really ask you to just stay out of my way?"

"Not a chance." Rosalia responded with a smirk. "I need shopping money and I need to pay off my mortgage. You can forget about being off the hook that easily."

William cocked by the trigger for the blaster pistol, charging up the stun pulse. "If it means anything, I'm genuinely sorry it has to be this way. I wish I could tell you so much more, but if I tell you too much, you'll just be another target. Good night, Rose."

The shock blast was quick, and the husky was rendered unconscious. He promptly went through her pockets and found the key to the cuffs. William undid the cuffs around his wrists and placed the blaster he had snatched back in the holster along Rosalia's side. He stood, and slowly made his way to the edge of the roof top, looking up into the night sky for a moment.

It was then that his wrist communicator began to vibrate a bit. He raised it up to his mouth and pressed the answer call button. "Yello?" William asked going back to his laid back and arrogant demeanor.

_"You IDIOT! Do you know how worried I've been!? I thought it was unlike you to abort missions like that and run off on your own, but radio silence for like five hours?! I thought you'd been arrested or killed or -"_

"Oh I'm sorry mom, was I supposed to be home before sun down?" William asked with a chuckle, and a groan following after from the pain in his side. He began to jump from building to building once more, hoping to get to the Cooper hide out in Italy. He was given all the information in the fax, and input it into his wrist multi-tool device's GPS system.

_"You got alot of explaining to do to Bently and the rest of Cooper's gang! Is Cooper with you?"_

"Nope. The stupid sentimental fool decided to stay in the hospital long enough to go to prison. I tried to spring him out, but he refused..." William responded as he got closer to the objective hide out.

_"Well that's just inefficient! I mean, he could've been nursed back to health by Bently I'm sure...and it's not like he wouldn't be well guarded until he was healed up!"_

"I don't understand it either buddy. All I know is that the kid really needs to grow up and let go of his feelings. We'll have to spring him afterwards, I suppose." William mused as he quickly made his way to the balcony of the alleged hide out.

He noticed Bently inside on his computer, while Penelope was watching something on the t.v. William gave a knock on the window, and the attention of both members of the Sly gang turned their heads. Penelope walked over quickly, and opened the window to let William in.

"There you are! How did the rescue go? Where's Sly?" Bently asked in a hurry. William sighed as he sat on the couch.

"Yeah, I'm great, thanks for asking!" William groaned as he gripped at his side. "To answer your question, we both got beat down so much that we had to be taken to the hospital. Once we got there, you can guess who was waiting for us..."

"Carmelita and that crazy husky that is drooling all over you?" Penelope asked.

"Unnecessary descriptive information, but yes. I tried to get Sly out of there, but the idiot refused, saying he'd just slow me down. I had Rosalia chase me half way across town before I charmed her into letting me go. I'm just that good..." William mused with a smirk.

"Well what are we going to do about Sly? There's no way we can leave him in that hospital!" Bently protested.

"Just what I was thinking there buddy. Thanks for the input. We either got to spring him out all together, or just throw me in there. Though I'm out of commission for quite some time. The doctor told me Sly had two days before he heals up. Which means we have two days to save him." William explained as he looked at the ceiling fan.

"Well, we'll figure out a plan soon enough. Greg sent me a message by the way, before you got here." Bently said as he looked to Penelope and nodded. The mouse walked over to William, and gave him a firm smack in the face.

"OW! The hell was that for?!" William groaned as he rubbed his face. Bently chuckled from his seat in his wheel chair.

"That was Greg's message. You were too far out of my reach." Bently said with a grin.


End file.
